Organic Farmers

The industrialization of agriculture has enabled large-scale farming businesses to get more done with fewer workers. This trend, coupled with a continuing population growth and consequential urban sprawl (the spread of development, such as houses and shopping centers, into nearby undeveloped land, often prime farmland)—plus surging costs of land, machinery, and other farming necessities—has caused the demise of many farms, and made it especially challenging for young and beginning farmers to start their farming business. Larger, better-funded, and more established farms have been able to withstand the pressures, as well as take advantage of government subsidies and payments, since these are typically based on the amount of acreage owned and the per-unit production.

While the U.S. Department of Labor forecasts a 1 percent decline in employment for farmers and ranchers through 2028, it also reports that "job prospects will be good for an increasing number of small-scale farmers who have developed successful market niches that involve personalized, direct contact with their customers. Many are finding opportunities in organic food production."

Farmers who run small- and medium-sized businesses in a specific organic farming niche will find more opportunities in the industry. Organic farmers who cater to urban and suburban customers, particularly by participating in farmers' markets and community-supported programs and cooperatives, will find that they have more avenues in which to promote their farms and sell their products. To further bolster this upward trend, reports show that more farmers' markets are opening every year in cities and suburbs throughout the country. In 1994 there were 1,755 farmers' markets operating in the United States; by 2019 that number had grown to 8,771, according to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.