Editorial: How Iowa can save the family farm

Could Iowa someday be a state of mega-farms and small acreages, with the traditional, midsized family farm a relic of the past? It’s possible, and our state would be poorer for it, economically and culturally. But that doesn’t have to be the future. The outlook for Iowa’s family farms isn’t good, but the continued decline isn’t inevitable.As reported in Sunday’s Register, midsized farms are getting squeezed. Profits are falling and debt levels are climbing. Their net on-farm income has fallen 44 percent from the farm economy’s peak in 2012 to 2015, according to a study by David Peters, a sociology professor at Iowa State University. And low grain prices likely mean more losses this year.These farms are important, in both number and economic impact. In Iowa, about 16,200 farms are considered midsized (farming 800 to 1,000 acres and making gross cash income between $350,000 and a $1 million.) Of the state’s 20,525 commercial farms, the midsized dominate with 52.6 percent of agricultural sales and 68.2 percent of farmland.But these farms are important for other reasons. Their decline is tied closely to the fates of small towns and school districts all over rural Iowa. The farmers’ labor and their spending help buoy county seats and even larger towns. Here are a few other smart policies federal and state officials can support: Funding rural development, indrreasing trade, helping beginning farmers.