Q: How many family farms are left in Indiana?
A: It depends on what you consider a “family farm.” If it’s 400 acres run by a sun-kissed pair who go by Ma and Pa, sons Toby and Timmy, and dog Old Blue, then not many. Thanks to the high cost of farm machinery, fertilizer, and other essentials, such a small spread, especially if it grows low-margin crops such as corn or beans, often isn’t highly profitable. Or even a little bit profitable. But this doesn’t mean we don’t still have a bunch of family operations. In fact, state and federal data show that 94 percent or more of the 53,000 Indiana farms are family-owned or operated. It’s just that these days, said families typically preside over far larger and more technologically advanced operations, some structured as multimillion-dollar corporations. They’re still technically family farms—in the same sense that Walmart is a family store.
