In 1950, one American farmer produced enough food to feed 20 people. Today, one farmer produces enough to feed 150 people, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in Rapid City on Monday.
Despite that explosion in efficiency, American farmers and ranchers today face increasingly difficult financial pressures, Vilsack said.
Vilsack, speaking to a crowd of about 500 people at the National Farmers Union convention here, said challenging financial conditions have forced many family farmers and ranchers out of business and discouraged younger people from getting into agriculture. The convention ends today.
In 1950, farmers and ranchers made up 15 percent of the U.S. population. Today, they make up less than 1 percent.
Vilsack said that only 11 percent of farm family income comes from the farm or ranch. The remainder comes from off-farm jobs held by farm husbands, wives and children.
He said the nation lost 80,000 mid-size farms in the past five years, while the number of very large operations has increased.
He said the economic pressure on agriculture has rippled throughout rural America, resulting in population loss, a less educated work force, and higher unemployment and poverty rates than any other place in the country.
“The president is deeply concerned about these trends,” said Vilsack, appointed last year by President Barack Obama to the nation’s top agriculture post.
Vilsack said solutions lie in improving competition in ag markets, expanding domestic and foreign markets, further developing alternative energy sources, and finding new opportunities in conservation including carbon and water credits.
He outlined several new USDA efforts and approaches:
y On improving competition, he said the Agriculture and Justice departments held the first of five workshops last Friday to determine whether all producers have a “level playing field” under such laws as the federal Packers & Stockyards Act. “We’re trying to determine whether there needs to be greater regulation, better enforcement, a different set of rules so that farmers of all sizes get a fair shake -- because we’re concerned about the trends,” he said. Some ag groups have complained of concentration of power over the livestock industry by a handful of giant meatpacking companies.
y On trade, Vilsack said the U.S. shouldn’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. He said some countries, including India and China, are putting up barriers to U.S. products and should be treated differently than countries more open to trade.
y To expand domestic markets, USDA has started a “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” program to link consumers with farmers. Vilsack said it’s also important to draw closer connections between farmers and institutional consumers such as schools, hospitals and prisons.
y He said conservation measures such as carbon credits contain the potential for billions of dollars in income for farm families. He said he is convinced that climate change is a fact and that changes in farming practices can help. “It is important to set up an offset system to reward American farmers for doing the right thing, whether they’re raising crops or raising livestock.”
Vilsack said that besides raising crops and livestock, American farmers and ranchers need to find other ways to produce revenue such as investing in conservation, water and carbon credits, hunting and fishing, and alternative energy including biomass and wind power.
The secretary acknowledged skepticism in farm country about the cap-and-trade proposals in Congress. But he said they would not regulate agriculture and could provide huge financial benefits. “Various studies show it’s a net plus for agriculture,” he said.
Vilsack said that decades ago, farmers were skeptical about hybrid seed, chemical fertilizer and mechanized farm equipment.
“We have to get ahead of the curve here,” he said. “We can’t always be reacting.”
One farmer at Monday’s gathering, Jerry Petik of Meadow, was not convinced. Petik, a South Dakota Farmers Union district director, said most farmers don’t comprehend what it’s all about. He said he worried that “Al Gore and his group” would reap billions of dollars.
“What we need is a public debate,” Petik said. “Am I going to sell my credits to Black Hills Power so they can still pollute and I get money? What’s the benefit to the environment?”
But Petik said he was more optimistic overall about Vilsack and other ag appointees, who he said are more supportive of Farmers Union policies than the USDA was in the George W. Bush administration.
Kenny Fox of Belvidere, president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said he was encouraged by Vilsack’s remarks about the investigation into competition issues and his suggestions for making rural America more profitable through such enterprises as hunting and fishing. The Stockgrowers recently launched an effort to teach members about agri-tourism businesses.
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