What is a “family farm?
A family farm is a farm which produces agricultural commodities for sale in sufficient quantities so that it is recognized in the community as a farm rather than a rural residence. A substantial amount of the labor for a family farm is provided by the borrower’s immediate family, although hired and seasonal labor is sometimes used during peak periods.
Family farm usually refers to an independently-owned farming operation, as opposed to a farm owned by a big corporation. In everyday conversation, it usually has a more romantic and involved meaning, that looks back a few decades to when most food was produced by millions of relatively small, independent farms. This idealized view sees family farms as kinder, gentler, better way of farming and producing food than our modern industrial agriculture. A few decades ago, farms were full-time businesses, passed down from generation to generation within individual families. The old style family farm being fondly remembered was diversified and to quite a degree self-sufficient: it sold a variety of items (livestock, vegetables, grain, dairy, eggs) rather than a lot of one thing, it grew the food for its own people and farm animals, and it owned its own land and equipment. While not all farms were like that, family farms in general have been literally almost wiped out in the last 50 years. The
The 20th Annual Family Farm Report released in December 1998 by the USDA’s Economic Research Service illustrates how the definition of “family farm” is being tested at both ends of the economic spectrum. “Large Family Farms” produce an average household income of about $118,450 per year and have a net worth of $925,782–only family-owned farms with gross sales greater than $500,000 qualify for this category. These family agribusinesses operate less than 5.5 percent of all farms but account for 46 percent of U.S. agricultural production. The average household income of these farms is 2.5 times greater than the average for the rest of the country, yet they receive about $14,826 each in federal subsidies. AMTA payments, the primary subsidy under the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, are limited to $40,000 per person. Unfortunately, each family member can be counted as a separate person; in other words, a family of four could receive AMTA payments totaling $160,000. A 1996 Environmental Working Gr
