Carl Zulauf

Carl Zulauf, Jonathan Coppess, Nick Paulson, and Gary Schnitkey - Carl Zulauf -

Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick, Carl Zulauf, Nick Paulson, and Jim Baltz - Weekly Farm Economics -

Ani Katchova, Suraksha Baral, Rae Ju, and Carl Zulauf - Carl Zulauf - The 2022 Census of Agriculture finds that the 2017-2022 period continued the ongoing 21st Century decline in number of farms and land in farms in US Midwestern states. These trends confirm the concern among agricultural stakeholders and policymakers regarding declining number of farms and land in farms; however, this concern has not yet coalesced into a policy issue on the national and farm bill agendas.

Gary Schnitkey, Brad Zwilling, Nick Paulson, Carl Zulauf, Bob Rhea, and Jim Baltz - Gary Schnitkey -

Mujahidul Islam, Ani Katchova, and Carl Zulauf - Mujahidul Islam -

The Census of Agriculture, which is conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides a comprehensive picture of U.S. farms and ranches. Using data from the 2017

Nick Paulson, Gary Schnitkey, and Carl Zulauf - Carl Zulauf -

Carl Zulauf and Gary Schnitkey - Carl Zulauf -

Gary Schnitkey, Nick Paulson, and Carl Zulauf - Gary Schnitkey - A steep decline in prices across years has resulted in low to negative average returns to Midwest farms in 2023 and projected for 2024. Crop insurance programs are not designed to cover the risk of multi-year price declines and current commodity title programs are also expected to provide little relief for these low prices. Modifying commodity title programs to make them more market-responsive would aid in providing relief to farmers.

Carl Zulauf, Gary Schnitkey, Jonathan Coppess, and Nick Paulson - Carl Zulauf - Since the 1996 Farm Bill’s seminal policy change that gave farmers the freedom to decide which crops to plant or not plant, land in US farms has declined by 75 million acres or -8%. Most (88%) of the decline occurred in pastureland. It is thus incorrect to equate the loss of farmland to a loss of cropland. Cropland has declined by only -2% while pastureland has declined by -13%. The sizable decline in pastureland is consistent with the growth in confinement animal production.