Posted on Oct 26, 2019
'Get Big Or Get Out' Farming Has Left Kansas Towns Struggling For Survival
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A billboard along Interstate 70 boasting about the productivity of Kansas farmers may say more about what’s happening in agriculture than those who put it there realize.
The message seems simple and straightforward: “1 Kansas Farmer Feeds 155 People + You!”
A closer look reveals it’s been crudely updated — an indication that the tally changes with some frequency.
The steady escalation of the number of people fed by a single Kansas farmer — from 73 in the 1970s to 155 today — reveals how lots of small farmers have been replaced by large farmers intent on getting even bigger.
That trend threatens scores of small towns that sprouted on the prairie in a different time, when larger numbers of small farmers depended on them.
The message seems simple and straightforward: “1 Kansas Farmer Feeds 155 People + You!”
A closer look reveals it’s been crudely updated — an indication that the tally changes with some frequency.
The steady escalation of the number of people fed by a single Kansas farmer — from 73 in the 1970s to 155 today — reveals how lots of small farmers have been replaced by large farmers intent on getting even bigger.
That trend threatens scores of small towns that sprouted on the prairie in a different time, when larger numbers of small farmers depended on them.
'Get Big Or Get Out' Farming Has Left Kansas Towns Struggling For Survival
Posted from kcur.org
Farming
Agriculture
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel sad but true. All you have to do is drive to see what’s left of generations of family farming. And a pile of bills.
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get big or get out is a true statement. The gov. like large operations because it's less people to deal with and a lot of large operations are forward contracted to processors be meat or grain. Hogs are marketed the day they are born, the auction system has just about dried up. Small milk producers are gone. In years back many farms had 15 or 20 milk cow. I see one producer in Minn wants to go from 1700 to 4000 milk cows. Lot to take care of in 1 place
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