Farm Consolidation Consistent With One Exception

When discussing the past 30 years of farm consolidation, consolidation of crop farms has been consistent.  When it comes to livestock, poultry and dairy farms,  "Although, we found in many ways, a much larger degree of consolidation, it tends to be episodic, it tends to occur say within ten or fifteen years of dramatic change within industries, USDA Research Economist Jim McDonald said.  “Hogs and dairies are good examples of those."

McDonald said one exception found in a recent study on farm consolidation, and a continuing trend of shifting to larger farms, has been in beef calf/cow operations.

"Where we see little change, really, in herd sizes or rather the distribution of herd sizes in the last 30 years, and we see little change, little consolidation, in the land you see most of those animals on is pasture and range land."

So, as an illustration found in study results, the mid-point of beef/cattle herd size rose steadily over a three-decade period.

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