Are farmers facing the biggest farm collapse in decades?
The lean years following collapse of the agricultural boom in 2013 are "raising concerns that the next few years could bring the biggest wave of farm closures since the 1980s," says the Wall Street Journal in a story headlined, "The next American farm bust is upon us."
Lots of small US farms, some with very large sales
Some 14 pct of U.S. farms are 10 acres of smaller and most do produce little, says a USDA report adding, "Small acreage does not necessarily mean small sales." About 50,000 of the farms had sales above $10,000 a year; 6,000 grossed over $250,000 and 3,600 had sales of at least $500,000.