Small farms make a comeback p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

Big farms produce most of the food in the U.S., but the latest government census suggests small-scale operations are rebounding.

The Department of Agriculture, which does the census every five years, counted 2.2 million farms in 2007, up from 2.1 million in 2002. The number of farms reporting sales of $1,000 or less was up significantly, from 570,919 in 2002 to 688,833 in 2007, according to the count released earlier this year.

Sally Worley, a spokeswoman for Practical Farmers of Iowa, said the increase reflects the growing demand for locally produced foods. “Farmers are trying to start operations to meet that demand,” she said.

Hancock County, Ind., has seen a resurgence in small-time farming, with an 11 percent increase in farmers from 2002, said Roy Ballard, agriculture educator for the county’s Cooperative Extension Service.

Increased payments to farmers for land-conservation measures should help keep smaller operations in business, and those farms also could get checks in the future for reducing carbon emissions, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.