According to the reports, four companies control 79 percent of the cattle slaughter business, four companies control 85 percent of the cereal market and four companies control 45 percent of the poultry industry. In a 1998 study of hog operations, the National Agricultural Statistics Service found that consolidation in the hog industry since 1986 resulted in a loss of 232,000 hog operations for a 67 percent decline. A handful of hog operations now account for 42 percent of the nation's hog inventory. Some agricultural industry leaders, economists and government officials are beginning to debate whether the U.S. agricultural industry may have already squeezed too many farmers and ranchers out of business. During the profit squeeze of the 1980s, the United States lost 8 percent of its full-time farmers, and between 1990 and 1998, another 20 percent of farmers dropped out.
Current conditions have officials speculating about the extent of further farm losses.
Given the levels of crop surpluses and expectations of continued favorable weather conditions around the world, Cornelius said he doesn't expect a reversal of that trend this year or in 2000. Nearly half of all U.S. producers are over age 55, while just 8 percent are under age 35, according to a 1999 report from USDA highlighting the Census of Agriculture. That raises serious questions about the nation's future food production capacity, Cornelius said, adding that a lack of profitability is at least partly responsible for the aging of America's farm operators. Fewer young operators are attracted by the prospects in agriculture. Advances in biotechnology such as new plant varieties genetically engineered to produce higher yields or resist pests and disease offer hope of higher worldwide yields likely to be needed to feed an exploding world population.