The World Could Lose Half Of All Farms By 2100

[Elmira Telegram 285]

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Mehrabi’s research points to farm and land consolidation; even if the amount of total farmland stays roughly the same, his model shows that fewer people will own that land. Fewer farmers means less knowledge transfer passed from generation to generation, as more and more farm work will be automated. 

This decline in farms is already occurring. Within the US, the number of farms has been falling slowly since the 1980s. In 2022, there were 2 million farms noted across the country. That’s a drop of 200,000 farms from 2007 numbers. 

“Currently, we have around 600 million farms feeding the world, and they’re carrying eight billion people on their shoulders,” said Mehrabi. “By the end of the century, we’ll likely have half the number of farmers feeding even more people. We really need to think about how we can have the education and support systems in place to support those farmers.”

 

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