Small Farms

A new report found the percentage of farms that are small and family owned remained unchanged from 2011 to 2020, holding steady at 89% of all farms.

Advocates say growing niche market food, herbs and botanicals lowers the entry cost to farming and can also make smaller farms more profitable.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to fewer and smaller Thanksgiving gatherings, hurting turkey sales overall. But the niche turkey farmer is somewhat immune from the trend.

Michael Turley wasn’t always a farmer. In fact, before he started managing the 120 Holstein cows on his family’s dairy farm in Greenville, Illinois, he…