Future

Abstract

Agriculture is filled with uncertainties, risks, losses, and back-breaking work. Yet, the returns on agriculture, especially for small farmers, are miniscule or, in some cases, non-existent. No wonder, many small farms have disappeared in the United States, and the same trend can be witnessed worldwide. There are two kinds of risks that farmers face: internal and external farm risks. Internal farm risk is easily controlled by the farmers. The risks are related to soil, fertilizers, phenological stages of a crop, and personal/family issues. The risks related to external farm, for example, commodity price variations, macroeconomic conditions, real-time price models’ unintended consequences, trade wars, sudden changes in people tastes and perception of a food commodity, and global climate change, are something beyond farmers’ control.