The number of U.S. farms fell by 12,800 to 2.029 million in 2018, the smallest ever, as the trade war pushes more farmers into retirement or bankruptcy, Reuters reported. By the end of 2018, the average U.S. farm size rose to 443 acres, a 12-year high and up from 441 million in 2017, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data. And the biggest farmers are growing their operations even more as retiring farmers choose to lease their land rather than selling it. When land becomes available for lease, only the biggest farmers can readily shoulder the costs needed to expand. The size of the loans smaller farmers would need to buy equipment, for example, are too big for applicants with little collateral, said Dave Kusler, president of the Bank of Hazelton in Hazelton, North Dakota. “It is almost impossible with what the costs are,” Kuslersaid. “In this area you can’t make a living on 1,000 acres.” Critics say the Trump administration’s policy of compensating growers for lost sales due to the trade war pays the bigger farm operations more, since payments are calculated by acres farmed. The Environmental Working Group, a conservation organization, said in a recent study the top 1 percent of aid recipients received an average of more than $180,000 while the bottom 80 percent were paid less than $5,000 in aid. Read more.
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