The Outstater

December 29, 2025

Restoring the Family Farm

IF YOU HEADED OUT into the Indiana countryside over the holidays you witnessed the dearth of family farms. As we noted in “Indiana Mandate: A Return to Founding Principles,” George Washington and James Madison, farmers both, would be shocked to learn that farm and ranch families comprise less than 2 percent of the American population today,

That could change here as the administration of Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith turn its attention to regenerating Indiana agriculture. Executive Order 25-58 to “make Indiana healthy again” is a much-needed commitment by state government to focus on expanding access to local foods and direct-to-consumer sales.

The family farm has been in free fall for a generation. Corporate and large family farms produce 84 percent of our food and fiber while 2 million small farms and ranches (sales under $250,000) produce 15 percent. Indiana lost 300 farms from 2021 to 2022. Still, the average size farm here is 270 acres, considerably smaller than the national average of 446 acres.

Please know that there is no free market in agriculture due to decades of regulatory micromanagement by the federal government and price subsidies conferred by taxpayers. To the extent supply and demand are at work, they can be seen in trends favoring locally produced vegetables, meat and poultry.

But USDA regulations place burdens on small farms that can least afford them. For example, in order to sell cuts of locally raised meat to nearby groceries or restaurants, farmers must send their animals to one of a limited number of federally inspected slaughterhouses, adding time and travel costs. 

As with so many government-created problems, the solution is to quit doing what we are doing. Indiana can cut red tape to promote local farming for local consumption and make it easier for small farms and ranches to serve consumers. Hoosier farmers need freedom to distribute custom-slaughtered meat to consumers, restaurants and hotels.

But if less government involvement worries you, consider who has the most incentive to provide safe, healthy food: 1) bureaucrats who pay no penalty for overreach or misjudgment; or 2) private actors operating in a competitive market who risk going bankrupt if they fail their customers? Claims by government that it is improving our food health with mandatory inspections, regulations and restrictions should be put to the most rigorous cost-benefit analysis.

Economists know that while markets are not perfect, government can exacerbate problems due to misaligned incentives and political distortions. The future for Indiana agriculture, we argue, is a minimal government role enforcing contracts and fraud laws, and, when practical, smoothing the path of private initiatives.

So watch carefully the governor’s attempt to upgrade Indiana agriculture. You will want to make sure it includes not just Statehouse rhetoric but the creation of standardized metrics to measure real progress in both the food health of Hoosiers and the growth of Indiana’s local food economy. — tcl

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