State sees trend to smaller farms
|
|
Toolbox
By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: February 16, 2009
MONTPELIER –Call it a growing trend: Almost all the farms established in Vermont in the last five years are on the small end of the spectrum, according to a national farm census.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts a farm census every five years, and the results of the 2007 census were released last week. The department defines a farm as a place that produces and sells agricultural products valued at $1,000 or more.
All but five of the farms established in Vermont since 2002 are between one and 179 acres. And most of those farms were at the small end of that range.
The number of farms between 180 and 1,999 acres decreased during that time.
Anson Tebbetts, Vermont Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, said these numbers fit with the overall pattern he has seen.
"We're seeing farmers that are willing to sell at farmers' markets," said Tebbetts. "We're seeing a growth in folks who want to raise livestock for meat. We're seeing greenhouses going up."
These trends translate into smaller farms, said Tebbetts.
"Ten acres of vegetables is quite a bit," he said.
"People are using a few acres of land to do something with farming, which is great to see," he added. "It keeps the land open."
Half the state's farmers have a primary occupation other than farming, and Tebbetts acknowledged that is probably the case with many of the new, smaller farms.
There was one exception to the drop in large-acreage farms; the state added five farms that are 2,000 acres or more.
The addition of very large and very small farming operations – with a dip in the middle – is similar to what occurred in the rest of the country.
Dairy farms sometimes buy or lease nearby farms, Tebbetts said, which could account for the drop in medium-sized farms and the increase in the largest farms.
The number of dairy farms in Vermont decreased between 2002 and 2007. There were 1,512 dairy farms in 2002, and there were 1,168 five years later.
The growing diversity of farming is a good thing, said Kelly Loftus, the communications director at the Vermont Department of Agriculture. She pointed out, for example, that there is now a yak farm in Waitsfield.
"Agriculture in Vermont is not stagnant," she said, and never has been.
Vermont was known for raising sheep in the 1800s before it became known as a dairy state, Loftus pointed out. Loftus was not willing to predict whether dairy farming was on its way out, but she did acknowledge that dairy farmers were facing a severe crisis in the coming months.
Tebbetts learned Friday what farmers will be paid for their January milk, and it falls well below the average estimated production cost.
Farmers will get about $13.29 per hundred weight for the conventional milk they produced in January, Tebbetts said, while the cost of production is about $16 to $18.
The decrease in milk prices is almost entirely due to the global economic slowdown, which has caused demand for milk to drop, said Tebbetts.
"With these price dips, it's really challenging for them," said Tebbetts, speaking of dairy farmers.
And it will likely get worse. The price per hundred weight of milk is predicted to plummet to the $10-range next month, Tebbetts said.
PUT IN HELVETICA
Sidebar/graphic
37