Clarifying the confusion surrounding large-scale farms |

Cold. Uncaring. Corporate-owned giants fueled by greed and profits. Those are sometimes the stereotypes invoked when someone hears or reads the words “factory farm.”

“There is no real definition for the term ‘factory farm,’” explained Hannah Thompson-Weeman, CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. “It’s just kind of a pejorative term used to refer to large-scale modern commercial agriculture. It’s capitalizing on the fact that a lot of people aren’t directly connected to agriculture.”

Connotations of impersonal, corporate-owned farms take up a lot of space in conversations around agriculture, but the reality is that farming and food production is still a family endeavor, as 98% of U.S. farms are family owned. Additionally, family farms accounted for 83% of total production in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

BY ALICE KEMP

Big or small, they’re family businesses

While the agricultural landscape has modernized over time with farms getting larger to feed growing populations, 89% of U.S. farms are, in fact, small family farms according to the USDA.

“Of the larger farms—ones with sales over $1 million a year—90% of those are family farms,” said Alex White, an agricultural economics and management instructor in Virginia Tech’s School of Animal Sciences.

White noted that most farms are structured as sole proprietorships or partnerships, and only a small portion are classified as “corporate” family farms. These corporations can be any size, and they’re incorporated for practical reasons like tax benefits and transition planning. Most farms are multigenerational, and it’s much easier to transfer an incorporated farm to children or relatives when owners retire.

“Corporate has gotten a bad rap, but it’s simply a form of legal ownership,” White said. “It’s simply a way of doing things.”

Farms or feedlots?

Browsing online for “factory farms” usually reveals images of crowded cattle yards. But these pictures are an oversimplification of just one part of animal agriculture and livestock production: the feedlot.

Cattle farming encompasses various stages, with feedlots being the final step before processing, explained Margaret Ann Smith, owner of Southlex Cattle Company and a sixth-generation farmer. In addition to running her own livestock operation, Smith works with her family’s farm, Smith Farms of Rockbridge County, which has been raising crops and livestock for over 150 years.

“At one point, we had four generations on the farm,” she said. “Before my grandma passed, the age range went from 94 to 4 years old. It’s a neat way to be … that’s what makes a family operation.”

While most cattle eventually go to a feedlot to be fed grain for finishing and weight gain, they spend the majority of their lives grazing on pasture, Smith explained.

“Seventy-five percent of their life is on a grass-based diet. Only a small portion of their life is spent in a feedlot,” she said.

At birth, calves remain with their moms on farms for several months, feeding and grazing. After weaning, they continue pasture grazing for another several months until they’re an appropriate age and weight to be moved to a feedlot. The feedlot stage typically lasts only four to six months, during which time livestock receive a specialized nutrientdense diet until they reach a suitable weight for processing.

Smith noted that feedlots follow science-backed practices, are managed under strict regulations, have thirdparty auditing, and employ specialized staff like veterinarians and nutritionists who look after the livestock—ensuring they’re healthy and stress-free.

“When you see cattle bunched up, that’s just what they do—it’s their herd instinct,” Smith said. “Even though they may have a huge amount of room in a feedlot, they instinctively want to go stand on top of each other.”

It all works together

Whether farms are small, midsize or large, the families behind them play a vital role in feeding consumers and providing a range of highquality products. They do this while employing innovations and best practices to remain good stewards of their animals and the environment.

“There are so many different options available to you because of the amount of different and diverse production we have in our agriculture community,” Thompson-Weeman said. “There are people at the heart of this who are making the best decisions they can for their animals, for their land and ultimately for consumers. It’s their livelihood.”