Why did farms become fewer and larger after World War II?

After World War II, farms became fewer and larger primarily due to the rapid adoption of advanced agricultural technology and scientific methods.12

The shift was driven by several key factors:

• Increased Productivity: The application of industrial management techniques, complex machinery (such as combines), and scientific approaches to breeding significantly increased output per farmer.34
• Efficiency and Scale: These technological advancements allowed individual workers to manage much larger areas of land. As productivity rose, a smaller number of farmers could supply food for the entire population, leading to a decline in the total number of farms.134
• Economic Pressures: To remain competitive amid world surpluses and low market prices, farmers were forced to increase efficiency, often by expanding their operations. This trend was further encouraged by policies advocating for higher yields and larger-scale operations, sometimes shifting production toward corporate-owned factory farms.15

Consequently, while the number of farms dropped significantly—for example, from 6.8 million in 1935 to about 2.1 million by 2002 in the United States—the average farm size increased substantially to accommodate these modern, high-yield methods.3