Uploaded April 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

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Welcome to our series on the changing face of agriculture: Farm Size Matters! Over the next month, we hope to give you a comprehensive picture of the state of American farms today: all of the fun (what it’s like to date in farm country), failure (how, despite all efforts, a farmer can lose his farm), fame (an interview with Willie Nelson), and facts (a fascinating ag subsidies explainer).

Farm size definition agofthemiddle.org/archives/2012/01/characterizing.html
ers.usda.gov/media/1156726/err152.pdf

Number of farms from 1935 - 2012
agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Full_Report
Volume_1,_Chapter_1_US/st99_1_001_001.pdf

Farm size change from 1997-2012
agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Full_Report
Volume_1,_Chapter_1_US/st99_1_001_001.pdf
agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_US/st99_1_001_001.pdf

script + research: Darby Minow Smith
production: Daniel Penner
asst. production: Ana Sofia Knauf
music: "Roscoe" by Podington Bear
CC BY NC 3.0 – podingtonbear.com
sound effects: "00653 vacuuming sucking 1" by Robinhood76
"ketchup" by DaveHammond
CC BY NC 3.0 – freesound.org
footage: Prelinger Archive

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amara.org/v/QTLO