Buying the farm?

We’re a little bit country; a little bit rock ’n’ roll. But maybe leaning more country. Arkansas covers about 34 million acres. Roughly 40 percent of it is farmed—and more than a little of it is used for duck and, lately, goose hunting.

Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts a census, and this one has good and bad news for Arkansas farmers. On the one hand, the number of farms is decreasing. On the other, production is up, and so is Internet and renewable energy use on the farm. Still …

“I’m concerned about the state of agriculture and food production in this country,” said federal Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Survey after survey continues to show a decline in the number of farms and in farmland . . . it’s a wake-up call.”

A majority of farmers have created multiple streams of on-farm income to make ends meet.

However, while the number of farms has been dwindling for years, those who seek greener pastures sell the farm, which simply means fewer families own about the same amount of the farm acreage the state has to offer.

In 2022, 38,000 farms existed in the state, which was an 11 percent decrease from 2017. However, the average farm covered 11 percent more acreage.

We’re not yet sure what all this means. The kids have been moving off the farm since before World War II. And in Arkansas at least, Tom Vilsack’s concerns about “farmland” declining—well, that’s not been the case here. There is still a lot of rice growing this year. Just take a drive from Jonesboro to Stuttgart. Farmland isn’t going anywhere.

Can’t say the same for the ducks, though. If we were going to worry about something, it’d be about what’s happening in the flyways.