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By the end of 2018, the average U.S. farm size rose to 443 acres, a 12-year high and up from 441 million in 2017, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
And the biggest farmers are growing their operations even more as retiring farmers choose to lease their land rather than selling it, Reuters reports.
The declining number of U.S. farmers could hurt the world’s top grain merchants such as ADM and Bunge, who will have fewer suppliers.
Additionally, farmers will have less need to rent space in the merchants’ grain silos as big farmers have plentiful storage on their own farms.
ADM said it would continue changing to meet the needs of its customers. Bunge did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Read the full report here.
