Obama's Rural Jobs Initiative Plan Fails on Unionized Corp Farming Either you buy the equipment or you

join with many other farmers and all chip in to buy then each take turns using equipment. Someone is stuck with a Tax burden or all of you have to elect to set a Corp Farming name and now your paying increased taxes and earnings go above the tax setting Obama aimed to setup, each have less overhead. Are you now Obama's Pawn? Downloadable Documents Included This Manuscript Reproduction... (1) EIB66_ReportSummary.pdf (2) EIB12c.pdf

Economic Research Service July 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture This is a Summary see Full Report at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib66 Also see companion brochure at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib67

Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition Robert A. Hoppe and David E. Banker Broad descriptions of farms based on U.S. averages can mask variation among different sizes and types of farms. Small family farms dominate the farm count and hold most farm assets, including farmland. But large-scale family farms and nonfamily farms account for the bulk of farm production. Averages such as sales per farm, therefore, can be misleading. Information on the different kinds of farmsand the farmers who operate themis important for understanding the economic well-being of farm households and the impact of farm policy. What Is the Issue? Agricultural policymakers require information on how U.S. farming is organized. USDAs Economic Research Service (ERS) produces a periodic report with that information. The Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition, is the most recent in the series, providing agricultural policymakers with an accurate, detailed, and unbiased source of information on the structure and finances of U.S. farms, including the relationship of farm size and type to agricultural production, financial performance, sources of farm household income, and the extent of operators off-

farm work. The report provides a sense of the financial position of family farms in general and for different types of family farms. What Are the Major Findings? Small family farmsannual sales less than $250,000made up 88 percent of U.S. farms in 2007. They also held about 64 percent of all farm assets, including 63 percent of the land owned by farms. As custodians of the bulk of farm assetsincluding landsmall farms have a large role in natural resource and environmental policy. Small farms accounted for 76 percent of the land enrolled by farmers in USDA land-retirement programs, largely in the Conservation Reserve Program. Nevertheless, very large family farms and nonfamily farms produce the largest share of agricultural output. Large-scale family farms (annual sales of $250,000 or more), plus nonfamily farms, made up only 12 percent of U.S. farms in 2007 but accounted for 84 percent of the value of U.S. production. Although small family farms produced only 16 percent of agricultural output, they made more significant contributions to the production of specific commodities: hay, tobacco, cash grains and soybeans, and beef cattle. For the most part, large-scale farms are more viable businesses than small family farms. The average operating profit margin and rates of return on assets and equity for large farms (annual sales of $250,000 to $499,999) and very large farms (annual sales of $500,000 or more) were all positive in 2007, and most of these farms had a positive operating profit margin. Small farms were less viable as businesses. Average operating profit margin and rates of return on assets and equity were negative for most small-farm types. Nevertheless, some farms within each small-farm type (see table for farm types) had relatively high operating margins of at least 20 percent. Small-farm households rely on off-farm income. Given small farms poor financial performance, why do so many continue to exist? Smallfarm households typically receive substantial off-farm income and do not rely primarily on their farms for their livelihood. Most of their off-farm income is from wage-and-salary jobs or self-employment. Households operating retirement farms, however, receive most of their off-farm income from such sources as Social Security, pensions, dividends, interest, and rent.

Farm operator households, generally speaking, cannot be considered low-income, but limited-resource farms persist. Median household income for only two types of farm householdsthose operating retirement farms or lowsales farms (annual sales less than $100,000) was below the U.S. median in 2007. Limited-resource farms, however, make up between 3 and 12 percent of all farms, depending on how limited-resource is defined. (The definitions are based on differentbut lowlevels of farm sales, operator household income, and farm assets or operator household net worth.) Different types of Government payments go to different types of farms. The distribution of commodity-related program payments is roughly proportional to the production of program commodities. Medium-sales (annual sales of $100,000 to $249,999) and large-scale farms received 76 percent of commodity-related Government payments in 2007. Likewise, large-scale farms received 60 percent of the payments from working-land programs, which target production indirectly by focusing on land in production. In contrast, land-retirement programs target environmentally sensitive land rather than production. The bulk of land-retirement payments (73 percent) went to retirement, residential/lifestyle, and low-sales small farms. However, most farms (61 percent) received no Government payments at all and were not directly affected by farm program payments. How Was the Study Conducted? The 2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is the main source of data in the Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition. ARMS is an annual survey designed and conducted by ERS and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), another USDA agency. In addition to ARMS, various censuses of agriculture and ERS farm sector income estimates are used in this report, particularly in the analysis of long-term trends. The report uses the farm classification system developed by ERS to examine farm structure in the United States. ERS is a primary source of economic research and analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, providing timely information on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/18/298559/rural-jobs-obamafarms/ With Rural Jobs Plan, Obama Aims To Shift Aid From Big Agribusiness To Family Farms By Guest Blogger on Aug 18, 2011 at 9:30 am Our guest blogger is Sarah Jane Glynn, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. President Obama spoke at the White House Rural Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa on Tuesday, and unveiled a new plan to aid rural America [http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/ruralplan/#family]. The plan covers a variety of issues impacting rural Americans, and while it addresses everything from methamphetamine use, to infrastructure, to foreclosures, Obamas closing speech focused on one of its key components [http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-andvideo/video/2011/08/16/rural-economic-forum-closing-remarks]: jobs. The number of farms has fallen, and more than 90 percent of farming families now rely on off-farm income. Yet net farm income is anticipated to increase 20 percent from 2010 [http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FarmIncome/nationalestimates.htm], the second highest inflation-adjusted value in 35 years. How is this possible? While small family operations make up more than 90 percent of farms, they control only 27 percent of production. The largest 1.6 percent of farms (most of which are corporately owned) accounted for 50 percent of farm sales [http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB12/ EIB12c.pdf?] in 2002. Part of Obamas rural jobs initiative would shift the power balance in order to benefit family farms. Part of Obamas plan includes encouraging young people to become farmers, as the average American farmer is 57 years old [http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/Fac t_Sheets/demographics.pdf], and an influx of young people is necessary to prevent small farms from disappearing. Obama will create a new program to train and develop the next generation of farmers, offer tax breaks to landowners selling to new family farmers, and tax-credits to off-set the cost of starting small farms. As he said this week [http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2011/08/16/closing-remarks-president-white-house-ruraleconomic-forum]:

I saw some of these future farmers of America and their young president right over there, and when you hear the enthusiasmand energy that these young people display, and the fact that if they can just get a little bit of a break when it comes to getting started on the front end, get a little bit of help with capital, that they are ready to take American agriculture to the next level it gives you confidence, it gives you hope. Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors of U.S. agriculture[http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/june10/Features/Americ asOrganicFarmers.htm], and organic farms tend to be smaller and are more likely to be run by younger people. Obama will increase funds for the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program , which provides financial assistance to help farmers comply with organic certification standards. The plan also calls for changes to the USDAs crop insurance rate so that organic farmers are not penalized organic produce is particularly susceptible to damage from disease and insects. Finally, Obama has stated he will close loopholes that allow megafarms to collect federal payments, by limiting eligibility to farmers who are actively working the land, or landlords who are renting to active farmers. In 2009, 62 percent of the $9.5 billion [http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/farmincome/govtpaybyfarmtype.htm] in government payouts to farms went to those grossing more than $250,000 per year, even though they make up only 12 percent of all farms [http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB66/EIB66_ReportSummary.pdf]. While this is a far cry from the overhauls the Center for American Progress has proposed in the past, if we are all going to be focused on Iowa, at least we are talking about how to help family farms rather than who looks the best [http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/bachmann-corn-dog.jpg] eating [http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/picture-of-theday-mitt-romney-eating-a-corn-dog/243465/] a corndog [http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/08/16/rick-perry-latestgop-candidate-photographed-eating-corn-dog/]. [end]