The Charlottesville region lost nearly 8 percent of its farmland in only five years — a rate that outpaced the rest of Virginia. Statewide, Virginia lost roughly 6 percent of its farmland during the same period.

Between 2002 and 2007, the total quantity of local farmland fell by 56,836 acres, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Despite the loss of acerage, the overall number of farms grew slightly in every local county, with the exception of Albemarle, which lost 24 farms between 2002 and 2007.

The average size of farms dropped in every county by a rate as high as 20% in Louisa County and as little as 6% in Madison and Orange counties.

[Read](http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/farmland_dwindles_in_area/35436/ “Read the Article”) (Charlottesville Daily Progress)

Small-scale farmers are experiencing growing pains as they adapt to the country’s expanding diet for locally grown foods and the exacting demands of high-volume distributors of their produce.

Companies such as Sysco, Whole Foods, and Wal-Mart want things like guaranteed volumes, set prices for an entire season and the ability to trace produce back to its source in the event of a food-related health scare.

Such standards, and other formal trappings of the business world like contracts, attorneys, technology, often conflict with the ethics, and practical considerations, of small-scale farmers, especially those who are deeply religious.

[Read](http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=15fd4cbc-e77c-4c49-b42c-3c855664dc33 “Read the Article”) (TheDay.com)

In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster.

American corn and soybean farmers are suffering from too much rain, while Australian wheat farmers have been plagued by drought.

At a moment when the United States’ corn should be flourishing, one plant in 10 has not even emerged from the ground, the Agriculture Department said Monday. Because corn planted late is more sensitive to heat damage in high summer, every day’s delay practically guarantees a lower yield at harvest.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/business/10planting.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Read the Article”) (New York Times)

As corn prices have risen with demand for ethanol in recent years, corn farmers are prospering. But others, such as hog farmers who rely on corn feed, are facing tough times, and some critics blame ethanol demand for rising food prices worldwide.

[Read, Listen and/or Watch](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june08/ethanol_05-15.html “Read the Article and/or Listen or Watch the Report”) (PBS)

Amid the tightly packed row houses of North Philadelphia, a pioneering urban farm is providing fresh local food for a community that often lacks it, and making money in the process.

Greensgrow, a one-acre plot of raised beds and greenhouses on the site of a former steel-galvanizing factory, is turning a profit by selling its own vegetables and herbs as well as a range of produce from local growers, and by running a nursery selling plants and seedlings.

The farm earned about $10,000 on revenue of $450,000 in 2007, and hopes to make a profit of 5 percent on $650,000 in revenue in this, its 10th year, so it can open another operation elsewhere in Philadelphia.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/us/20philadelphia.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin “Read the Article”) (New York Times)

Faced with strong worldwide food demand and the accompanying higher prices, American farmers are beginning to respond to the signals of the market.

In a new government report, farmers said they would make significant cuts in corn acreage this year in favor of soybeans. Farmers said they would plant 18 percent more acres of soybeans. If they carry through with their intentions, the resulting additional soybean oil could help alleviate global shortages of cooking oil that have led to sharply higher prices, hitting poor countries hard.

But a smaller corn harvest would most likely raise prices for that crop, which could also increase the prices Americans pay for meat. Most corn is used as animal feed. Higher corn prices may also compound the difficulties of companies that use corn to produce ethanol as a motor fuel.

[Read](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/business/01crop.html?ex=1364788800&en=ded789b1801c23af&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Read the Article”) (New York Times)

International aid agencies, which during the 1980s and ’90s essentially abandoned support for agriculture and encouraged Africans to develop light industry and services, finally realized the folly of their approach. As the World Bank admitted in late 2007, “Agriculture has been vastly underused for development.”

After decades of mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation, African ­farmers—­still overwhelmingly smallholders working family-tilled plots of land—­are awakening from a long slumber. Because farmers are the majority (about 60 percent) of all sub-Saharan Africans, farming holds the key to reducing poverty and helping to spread prosperity.

Over the longer term, prosperous African farmers could become the backbone of a social and political transformation. They are the sort of canny and independent tillers of the land Thomas Jefferson envisioned as the foundation for American democracy. In a region where elites often seem more committed to enjoying the trappings of success abroad than creating success at home, farmers have a real stake in improving their ­turf. Life will still be hard for them, but in the years ahead they can be expected to demand better government policies and more effective services.

[Read](http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=359819 “Read the Article”) (Wilson Quarterly)