The Invisible Hand, Elasticity, and the Vanishing Farmer

(5/7/25) Writing on the AGDAILY website, farmer and international consultant Ben Henson describes how the traditional building blocks of the American agricultural economy are being undermined by unprecedented consolidation in farming. Highlights:

• One basis of economic theory is “inelastic” versus “elastic” demand for products. Food is considered a product that is inelastic, given that we must have it to subsist. However, within the category of food, people have traditionally been able to flex somewhat by choosing less expensive options. That freedom of choice is in danger as corporations increasingly control farming and how food is produced, argues Henson.
• For years, corporations avoided directly owning farms because agriculture was too unpredictable and margins were too thin. But as the number of producers shrinks enough to offer total price control, large corporations have found it’s profitable for them to own and control farms and farmland.
• “Today, roughly 200,000 farms are responsible for 80 percent of all agricultural output in the United States,” writes Henson. “That’s just 10 percent of farms doing nearly all the heavy lifting. And even within that 10 percent, a much smaller group of very large operations dominate. It’s efficient, but it’s fragile. Because when the base narrows, every disruption hits harder.”
• “We’ve spent decades measuring farm policy by its efficiency,” he further writes. “Maybe it’s time we start measuring it by its resilience. By the number of people still willing — and able — to farm. Whether a 10-pound bag of potatoes is still affordable. And whether rural economies still function.”

LSP is working to help transition farming businesses to the next generation in a manner that is economically viable. For details, click here. For more on LSP’s work to build resilient community food systems and build wealth sustainably, click here. You can read about LSP-backed state legislative proposals to support local food systems in our latest blog.

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Tyson, Clemens and Triumph to Pay $64M in Pork Price-Fixing Settlements

(4/23/25) Tyson Foods, Clemens Food Group, and Triumph Foods have agreed to a $64 million settlement in litigation alleging one benchmarking company and seven of the nation’s leading pork producers conspired to limit the supply of pork and fix prices in violation of state and federal antitrust laws, reports National Hog Farmer. Highlights:

•  In 2018, the plaintiffs, a group consisting of individuals or companies who directly or indirectly purchased pork products from one of the processors, filed the antitrust class-action lawsuit, claiming  Clemens Food Group, JBS USA, Seaboard Foods, Smithfield Foods, Triumph Foods, Tyson Foods, and Hormel Foods “entered into a conspiracy from at least 2009 to the present to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the price of pork.”
• These latest three settlements are in addition to four settlements previously reached against JBS USA,  Smithfield Foods, Seaboard Foods LLC, and Hormel Foods Corporation.

Control of the meatpacking industry by companies like JBS is a major barrier to developing a food system that pays farmers a fair price for their livestock and that is good for the land, eaters, and communities. See LSP’s Federal Policy web page for information on our work related to consolidation.

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Oat Mafia Expands and Plants Over 6,000 Acres this Spring

(4/28/25) Agweek reports on the growth in oat acres that have resulted in southeastern Minnesota since a group of farmers who call themselves the “Oat Mafia” began marketing the crop collectively in 2020. Highlights:

• Individual members of the group are growing anywhere from 20 to 400 acres of oats, estimates farmer-member Kevin Connelly. “To my knowledge, in southeastern Minnesota, there’s well over 6,000 acres of oats,” Connelly told Agweek.
• The group not only markets food-grade oats as a group, but shares field equipment and transportation infrastructure.
• The farmers also share production information and have been able to increase yield and test weights of oats in recent years.

In January, LSP held a standing-room only meeting in Albert Lea, Minn., focused on how to make small grains like oats a bigger player in farmers’ rotations. To view the presentations and listen to podcasts related to that meeting, click here. In August, we are holding a small grains field day in western Minnesota. Details are still being hammered out. Check our web calendar for updates.

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Underage Workers, Millions of Dollars and Trucks Full of Dead Chickens — Inside the Business of Killing in Response to Bird Flu

(4/30/25) People working for companies that depopulate poultry operations experiencing avian flu outbreaks are being exposed to unsafe working conditions, according to interviews and an extensive document review conducted by Investigate Midwest. Highlights:

• Over 168 million birds have been depopulated in the U.S. since early 2022, the majority of which have been at large commercial operations. When a flock is killed, the USDA can compensate producers for the loss of revenue and the cost to depopulate.
• Bird disposal companies, environmental waste businesses, and large poultry producers have received millions of federal dollars to kill flocks, compost their bodies, and clean barns across the country.
• The current bird flu outbreak is the first time in the nation’s history that the USDA has put a single federal contractor — Patriot Environmental Services — in charge of responding to outbreaks when a business or state agriculture department can’t handle a farm’s depopulation request. The use of a single federal contractor has caused delays when a farm requests assistance from the federal government to depopulate a flock, according to depopulation consultants, veterinarians and state agriculture agencies interviewed.
• Underage workers, in some cases, have been hired to kill poultry flocks, handle dead carcasses and clean industrial poultry farms. Workers sometimes lack personal protective equipment or receive damaged gear, despite the risk of the virus jumping from animals to people. Dealing with a federal backlog, some farms have used killing methods considered inhumane because it can be quicker and cheaper. Depopulation workers can spend each day picking up chickens, putting them in metal rolling carts and filling the carts with carbon dioxide. This process subdues and kills the birds in a few minutes but poses a danger to workers because of the repeated exposure chicken handlers have to sick birds, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
  
  LSP is currently working on a white paper related to how large poultry operations are benefiting from the avian flu outbreak at the expense of eaters, the taxpayer, and farmers. It’s due out later this month. Check our News Releases web page for future updates.

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Conservation Efforts Pay Off in Higher Profits for Minnesota Farmers

(5/7/25) Farmers enrolled in the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) saw nearly double the profits of non-certified farms, according to Morning AgClips. Highlights:

• The MAWQCP puts farmers in touch with local conservation district experts to identify and mitigate any risks their farm poses to water quality on a field-by-field basis. Producers going through the certification process have priority access to financial assistance. After being certified, each farm is deemed in compliance with new water quality laws and regulations for 10 years.
• Looking at 2024 data, the average net cash income for MAWQCP farms was over $134,800, nearly double the $67,700 for non-MAWQCP farms, according to an analysis conducted by the Minnesota State Agricultural Centers of Excellence. The median net income was also nearly double for certified farms compared to non-certified farms. Debt-to-asset ratios were also better for those enrolled in the MAWQCP.
•  Since the program’s statewide launch in 2016, nearly 1.2 million acres have been enrolled in the MAWQCP. The 1,600-plus certified farms have added more than 7,700 new conservation practices that protect Minnesota’s waters. Those new practices have kept over 68,800 tons of sediment out of Minnesota rivers while saving over 89,800 pounds of phosphorus on farms each year, according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The conservation practices have also reduced nitrogen loss by up to 45%.

For information on building soil health profitably, check out LSP’s Soil Builders’ Network web page.

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For MN, SNAP Benefits Reach Farmers’ Markets, Other Parts of Economy

(5/8/25) As Congress considers massive cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), people who work in the area of hunger relief and farmers’ markets warn such cuts could have major negative impacts on low-income people and the farmers who sell to them, reports Public News Service. Highlights:

• Farmers’ markets began accepting SNAP benefits around 20 years ago. Vendors who are beginning or historically marginalized farmers rely heavily on SNAP customers.
• One estimate is that every dollar in SNAP benefits generates about $1.50 in local economic activity.
• “Just using data from 2023, we know that SNAP users made over 1.7 million purchases at farmers’ markets,” Willa Sheikh, acting director of the Farmers Market Coalition said. “That’s a contribution of over $42 million into local economies.”

Check out LSP’s Myth Busters on SNAP and the role local food systems can play in rural economic development.

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On Compost

(4/17/25) Fraser MacDonald, in the London Review of Books, describes with a poetic flourish the many ways — from complex to simple — that material can be broken down into fertile, biologically rich compost. Highlights:

• “Making compost is often beset with prohibitions – you’re not supposed to add meat or dairy or citrus or cooked foods or fish or perennial weeds or bones or rhubarb leaves or diseased plants – and there can be good reasons for these exclusions, from discouraging rats or pathogens to the fact that some things take too long to break down,” writes MacDonald. “But what’s the worst that can happen? I now ignore compost orthodoxy in favour of this one rule: ingredients must have been living (or, like paper, be made from something living).”
• He writes that after investigating various composting systems, he’s landed on the idea that simple is best. “It couldn’t be easier. Put the dead things in a pile. That’s it.…my compost mix is never quite the same,” says MacDonald. “I always include two staples: fibrous material like wood chippings or rose prunings to create tiny air pockets. Then water. After that, it just takes time.”

Check out LSP’s Soil Microbiology web page for information on composting systems such as the Johnson-Su Bioreactor.

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Give Farm Subsidizers Like Me Some Respect

(5/4/25) Writing in the Des Moines Register, David Russell makes it clear that, as a taxpayer, he is proud to subsidize small farms that are doing right by the environment and their communities, but that he doesn’t think it’s fair that his money is being used to, as he says, “provide handouts to those massive industrial farms that suck up the vast majority of our farm subsidizer dollars.” Highlights:

• From 1995 through 2021, one study showed, the richest 10% of farm subsidy recipients got over 78% of commodity program subsidies. The top 1% collected 27% of subsidies, while the vast majority of farmers are getting little or nothing. Ag consolidation squeezes more small family farmers out to make industrial agriculture even bigger.
• Ironically it’s the large industrialized operations receiving the most subsidies that impose the most costs on society in terms of environmental degradation, Russell argues.
• “Bottom line: If the federal government can force me and every taxpayer to be a farmer subsidizer, it can force those industrial farmers to do the right thing,” Russel writes. “All it would take is enough of us farmer subsidizers to demand it.” 

LSP’s Farm Bill platform calls for, among other things, reform of the subsidy system in a way that it promotes regenerative farming systems that benefit local communities and the food system. Check it out here.

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