The new USDA 2017 Census of Agriculture offers one sad statistic of overarching importance for South Dakota: for the first time since statehood, the number of farms in South Dakota has dropped below 30,000. Farms in South Dakota dwindled to 29,968 in 2017, down 6% from 2012. That’s over 2,000 independent farms gone in five years, an average of 30 farms lost per county.
We had 33,191 farms in 1997. We managed to hold steady above 31,000 in 2002, 2007, and 2012.
That’s mostly economics and partly demographics. South Dakota sold $9.7 billion in ag products in 2017, a decline of 4% from 2012, but average net income per farm was $81,763, down 20% from 2012. A drop in income like that is bound to drive some players out of the market. (2017 income was split nearly evenly between ranching and farming: 47% from critters, 53% from crops.)
But as in other fields, we have fewer young farmers stepping in to place retirees. The average age of a South Dakota farmer rose from 54.3 in 2012 to 56.2 in 2017. Only 12% of our ag producers were 35 or younger, in a state with a median age of 37 and where workers age 20 to 34 make up (by my quick count from SD Dashboard’s percentages) a third of the working-age population.
From 2012 to 2017, the number of farms worth less than $2 million decreased by 15.9%. The number of farms worth $2 million or more increased 17.1%. Those $2-million-plus operations rose from 29.1% of South Dakota’s farm operations to 36.4%.
Whatever their size, farm operations hired fewer workers. The number of hired workers dropped 4.7%, from 27,199 in 2012 to 25,914 in 2017.
Agriculture still dominates South Dakota’s landscape. 89.1% of our state’s land area is farm land, compared to 39.8% nationwide. But fewer South Dakotans are directly involved in the stewardship of that vast wealth-producing portion of our land.
I feel sad about that. A farm is a great place to grow up. There are things one learns when livestock is dependent that aren’t available in other milieu. In addition there is something about the space and physical freedom to move about, make noise, etc.
Sigh. 😔😕😞
Probably a whole lot more farmers than ranchers will gain from this. Soybeans may not sell in China for livestock operations, but soybeans and wheat will replace beef here.
“If all goes according to Burger King’s master plan, St. Louis could again serve as a gateway to a new life, this one with less beef in the American diet, which in turn could help reduce the many environmental impacts that raising cattle has on our vulnerable planet. The fast-food chain is testing its Impossible Whopper in the greater metro area here, and if the meatless hamburger proves a success in St. Louis, Burger King will roll out the sandwich to all of its 7,200 locations nationwide.” Washington Post April 15, 2019
Agree w Jerry maybe we have evolved away from beef or future generations will. One thing NEVER discussed is water ratio to process a pound a beef. M burry only invests in water we should all take note
Farming isn’t looking too well in 2019 I’m afraid.
More importantly, this failed agricultural economic model bespeaks the future for SD’s small towns, county seats, local schools, etc., as most places dash back to the frontier. They pretend to raise food – but Americans don’t eat field corn, few eat soybeans, and fewer eat red meat.
We need a new economic model.
The new economic model might include hemp.
Some good news for farmers– China’s hog population is crashing due to disease. They’re thinking they could lose HALF their total animals. That includes breeding sows.
Wow. Theres going to be a huge market.
Ms. Debbo, China already has that possible loss factored in, they call it Smithfield Foods. Not only will they provide the pork needed in China, they will sell online in China. China will follow the lead of Russia, as we should as well, who take pork production very seriously. As China probably does not want the CAFO’s polluting the place even further, you can probably count on South Dakota to step up and make the place the pig stink capital of the world…as long as we can get immigrants to work in these places.
“For Chinese authorities struggling with the rapid spread of a disease that’s threatening to devastate the world’s largest pig industry, Russia’s No. 1 pork producer has the answer — get bigger and cleaner or get out.
Miratorg, which raises 3 million pigs annually, not only has strict quarantine measures at every level of its farms, but it also bans workers from rearing their own hogs and from hunting wild boar. Such biosecurity measures have enabled it to thrive in the face of one of the world’s most dangerous swine diseases.” Bloomberg 12/06/2018
Thinking about my subsequent post on capitalism and democracy: food raised by fewer people is less democratic and less capitalistic food.
The Chinese losses Debbo mentions may offer our hog farmers opportunity, but that opportunity will benefit fewer and fewer producers.
On Jerry’s point: I enjoy meat and recognize the value of protein, but I have to acknowledge that we could save energy by reducing our meat consumption. The fact that a lot more people garden than raise chickens or pigs in the backyards reflects the fact that it’s more efficient to grow plants for food than animals.
Hemp! Another great example of how Trumpists don’t want real democracy or capitalism. Congress approved hemp. Almost everyone in the Legislature approved hemp. Lots of farmers said they want the option to grow hemp and let the market decide if it’s a viable cash crop. But Kristi Noem cast her solitary and imperious veto on letting the people and the market decide, thus denying farmers one more option that could keep some of them in business.
It is a double edge sword. Farming is a sector in which their is an oversupply of operations bidding up resources to essentially work for nothing, or in the articles point working themselves out of existence. I would wager that none of the land given up by the exiting farms rented out for any less by the next operation.
Next owner, if that person did not personally farm the ground, most likely raised the rent to re-coup his/her/its investment quicker.