12/30/2023 0 Comments Carbon neutral indianaLonestar Calf Ranch (Hereford, Tex.) - Workers scoop a mixture of soy, corn and alfalfa to feed cattle. Meanwhile, the prices of fertilizers and pesticides have steeply increased in the past few years, as have labor and transportation. Agricultural policy has gotten caught up in culture wars that have snarled other aspects of American life.įood inflation has shoppers anxious and quick to blame producers for high prices. Vast cattle feedlots, chickens crowded in cages and heavy use of chemicals have come under criticism from environmental advocates and consumers. Drought, floods and other extreme weather have challenged many of the traditional ways, causing yields to fall. In recent years, however, the demands on farmers have grown more complex. farm acreage by more than 140 million and the number of American farms fell from a peak of 6.8 million in 1935 to just over 2 million today. That happened even as development pressures reduced total U.S. These exhortations worked: Total farm output nearly tripled between 19. In the 1970s, Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz encapsulated the mission by urging them to plant “from fencerow to fencerow” and to “get big or get out.” For more than half a century, American farmers have had a clear mandate: Grow more.
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