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| I grew up in NE ND. Farmed until 1988. The small towns have been declining in population long before CRP came into play. In the 30's, there were 5 grain elevators, lumber yard, 2 hardware/small machinery stores, 2 gas station/repair shops, 2 Bars.. By late 70's, down to 1 Grain Elevator, no lumber yard, 1 hardware store that then combined with the Grocery store (closed around 2010), 1 gas station and 1 bar. Population from 300 down to under 100 now.
Average sized farms went from 500 acres to over 1,000 acres and are now over 3,000 acres, many 5,000+. CRP in that part of the county is less than 5% of total acres, so not much if any of the down trend is from CRP. Bigger machinery = bigger farms = less people. | |
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so when the market hits zero
