family farms

By American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall   These days, it seems we’re hearing more and more talk about “big ag.” While the words are tossed out freely, it’s not clear whether the idea is to paint farming as a “big” industry or to slap a corporate label on family farms. In my travels as American Farm Bureau p...

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins released a set of policy proposals under her newly launched Make Agriculture Great Again Initiative.  Her initial proposals are a comprehensive set of policy solutions aimed at improving the variability and longevity of smaller-scale family farms for generations to come.  ...

Many provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire this year.  The American Farm Bureau Federation says that adds a big task to the Congressional to-do list: updating the tax code.   Many of those expiring provisions provide important relief for farm families.  AFBF Associa...

Oregon farmers say one of the biggest challenges when it comes to state regulations is how departments, in many ways, write their own laws.  To help reign that in, state Representative Anna Scharf introduced House Bill 2692.  The western Oregon Republican said the state needs an overhaul of the state’s Administrative rule making process.   "But our agencies hav...

In 2023, roughly 86% of all farms across the United States were small, family farms.  A USDA report says these farms have a gross cash income below $350,000 and operate on 41% of all U.S. agricultural land.  The family farms produced 17% of the total value of U.S. agricultural pro...

According to ERS’s most recent America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance report, most American farms, 86% are small family operations.  These farms operate on 41% of U.S. agricultural land and account for 17% of the total value of American production.  Large-scale family ...

Despite continued consolidation within the dairy industry, family farms are still thriving.  National Milk Producers Federation Senior Vice President of Communications Alan Bjerga said despite phrases like 'factory farm' or 'corporate farm' being bandied about these days, family-owned farms have maintained a consistent dominance of the industry.  Accordi...

As farm families gather for the holidays, it’s a good time to reflect on the past and look to the future. Long-term success of your farm and passing it to the next generation requires careful planning. The AARP’s Sean Voskuhl says its best to not put off starting your estate plan. “Th ...

Last week, National Farmers Union announced the Fairness for Farmers campaign. The effort seeks to rally Americans to urge lawmakers and the Biden administration to take concrete steps to curtail consolidation in agriculture, which NFU said negatively impacts farmers, ranchers and consumers ...

Ask many in the Washington farm community, and they’ll tell you those not connected with the agriculture community not only don’t know what is taking place on today’s farm, they also don’t care. Statistic show fewer and fewer Americans are connected with farming on a personal level, which supporters of farm country say is evident when you look at legislative decisions being made on the state and