In July of 1997, nearly 20 years later, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman appointed a 30-member National Commission on Small Farms to examine the status of small farms in the United States and to determine a course of action for USDA to recognize, respect, and respond to their needs. The Commission began its work in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 28. The results of the Commission's work are embodied in the 146 recommendations in this report, A Time to Act . 1 Looking back now nearly 2 decades later, it is evident that this warning was not heeded, but instead, policy choices made since then perpetuated the structural bias toward greater concentration of assets and wealth in fewer and larger farms and fewer and larger agribusiness firms. Federal farm programs have historically benefited large farms the most.
Tax policies give large farmers greater incentives for capital purchases to expand their operations.
Large farms that depend on hired farmworkers receive exemptions from Federal labor laws allowing them the advantage of low-wage labor costs. Today, we have 300,000 fewer farmers than in 1979, and farmers are receiving 13 percent less for every consumer dollar. Four firms now control over 80 percent of the beef market. About 94 percent of the Nation's farms are small farms, but they receive only 41 percent of all farm receipts. Like most major industries, the ownership and control over agricultural assets is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.