These factors lead many problems within the farming community. Drought can wipe out an entire crop. So for an individual farm, any type of weather anomaly can cause bankruptcy. Larger, more sophisticated farmer can produce more at lower costs. More production leads to more supply, therefore, dropping the overall prices of crops.
Technology is an angel and devil all wrapped up into one.
On one hand, technology helps ease the workload and brings crop yields up. On the other hand, technology is very expensive, can be very dangerous to use, and causes prices to fall because more crops equal larger supply. The price factor of technology forces farms to borrow heavily from banking institutions. A bad year means bank foreclosure. Globalization of the world economy is another factor that is hurting the small farm.