From Early Warning,
Number of Farms In the United States:
I've circled the 4% increase between 2002 and 2007. Note that the
reporter is incorrect that this is the first such increase since 1920:
there was a large increase in 1935, presumably due to the effects of
people going back to the land in the great depression. Note also that
the 2007 census is just before the great recession and it's possible the
2012 census will show a larger increase given both the recession and,
perhaps, an ongoing trend amongst young people of returning to
agriculture.
So, we are a long way from Sharon Astyk's Nation of Farmers,
but it certainly looks like the giant loss of US farm count in the mid
twentieth century has stabilized and perhaps now begun some kind of
bounce back**.
Interesting. What an oh-so-small increase.
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