Throughout the Midwest, the trend in farming is a shift from smaller, family-owned farms to larger, sometimes corporate-owned farms, often called industrial agriculture. Those supporting the movement cite increased production of crops and animals, better efficiency in using land and facilities, and higher profits as reasons.Â
Greg Steele grew up on a 50-cow dairy farm in eastern Wisconsin, and he has watched the change with interest, both as a former farmer and as a senior dairy lending specialist the past 30 years for Compeer Financial, an organization that offers financial services to farmers in 144 counties in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. He said one way of looking at the shift is economics.Â