Mega Farms: How it Affects Rural Iowa (Perspective Article)

Nearly a week ago I asked a question on The Iowan Perspective Twitter page about whether large industrial agriculture was taking away from food production in the Midwest and in particular Iowa. To my pleasant surprise, I got a wealth of feedback regarding this issue. I even got some perspective from an Iowan legislator, J.D. Scholten, who is a democratic representative from District One. Aside from him, many other people gave their opinion and added plenty of layers to this story so let’s dive right into it.

To be classified as a corporate farmer, you simply need to plant and harvest a crop and own an LLC. In fact, most family farms operate their farms under an LLC these days. But there is a distinct difference between family owned operations and large scale industrial farms. Many wealthy people who own multiple businesses are buying land and utilizing tax write off benefits for other things not relating to agriculture. This leads to gigantic, industrialized farms that place family owned farms in jeopardy. To summarize this, J.D. Scholten states it perfectly.

“A combination of “get big or get off the farm” policies and multinational corporations squeezing farmers on the input and market side of things are leading to mass consolidation which hurts most farmers and leaves farming communities left behind.”

It is almost like a perfect storm with this latest generation moving away from the farm and into the city at an alarming rate and huge corporations rushing into local farms to take their place simultaneously. This leaves 5th - 6th generational farms in a precarious situation with no one to pass their land down to and high buyers waiting to capitalize on this mass exodus of young farmers. Twitter user MBest adds on to the conversation saying that this trend is not only hurting farmers.

“It’s hard on small town Iowa communities.”

He is right. Most small town communities in Iowa are farm based. In fact, the entire economy of a rural town in Iowa revolves around local farmers and jobs rooted in agriculture.

However some people are indifferent on how farms in Iowa are run and believe that there are other issues that need to be addressed. Twitter user Derek Heckman is interested in what vertical farming looks like and how it fits into the future of agriculture.

“As long as it's done in a sustainable way, and doesn't get in the way of family farms I'm for it. I know they sometimes don't co-exist well, but they can. I also believe for our food production we need to seriously look into vertical farming.”

Vertical farming is a high tech, sustainable, and compact way of raising crops. The name speaks for itself, instead of farming conventionally on a field, crops are raised on platforms in a climate controlled environment. This three dimensional method of raising and producing food has made waves in areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Another twitter user questioned the viability of smaller farms due to the higher production costs and demand for food across the world.

“Hundreds, thousands of farmers strongly desire hog raising contract to shed market risk and lower fertilizer cost. Industrial farming means big equip and technology? Only way the world gets fed. 10 chicks in a coop won’t work!” - Dave Smidt

Dave brought up a great point. With population increasing, and more mouths that need to be fed, there needs to be a more efficient way of producing and distributing food. Maybe large industrial farms are the future, however one number is indisputable. This number is sourced from Iowa.gov and it shows the disparity between size of farms in Iowa compared to the number of farms. In 1950, Iowa had a total of 200,000 privately owned farms and the average size of each farm was 160 acres. Today the number of privately owned farms have been cut in half with only 80,000 farms populated in Iowa and the average size being 350 acres. The days of small family owned farms are dwindling away and the impact of this situation may be monumental for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who gave their perspective. This article was a treat to write. Be sure to follow us on twitter @IAperspective and don’t be afraid to support us on our Patreon which you can find on the website.

-Caleb Renner (Co-Editor-In-Chief)