There seldom is much in-depth publicity about the state of farming across Pennsylvania, but perhaps now is the right time to delve into that important topic, considering what is happening across this country on the agricultural front.

It is a “something” that merits much more than cursory notice and concern. At some point not many decades from now, there might be a need for generous special incentives beyond the current farm subsidies, just to keep large segments of farming alive, staffed and vibrant.

The nine words of a Feb. 17 front-page Wall Street Journal headline should serve as a wake-up call to America as a whole. Everyone’s life depends on the farming industry and reading the headline — “Farmers are aging. The family business is in peril.” — is nothing to dismiss as “somebody else’s problem.”

Actually, it’s everybody’s problem.

Under those nine words were 21 additional words expanding on the initial message, as follows:

“Rising costs, weak prices and a trade hit are pushing more farms to the brink, making it harder to find successors.”

Carrying that point farther, the Journal noted that “children of farmers today have more opportunities to work beyond agriculture, and families are typically smaller, shrinking the pool of candidates.”

Thus, the tough economics are making the search for successors to the aging farmers more difficult.

Most people in their vehicles driving past a farm seldom give any thought to the challenges to existing that those operations might be experiencing.

It is true that the number of farmers in America has been shrinking for years but, according to the Journal, rising costs and weak commodity prices are pushing more families out at a faster rate.

In 2025, according to court data to which the Journal referred, 315 farms filed for bankruptcy, up 46% from 2024.

Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are more farmers

75 and older than under the age of 35.

“They are facing tough choices and tougher prospects” was the way the Journal summed up what is happening.

The Journal quoted Rob Larew, National Farmers Union president, who said “family agriculture is in crisis, and American farmers and ranchers are fighting for their livelihoods.”

It is not difficult to understand that closing the book on farms that have been in families for generations, either by selling to a larger farming operation or declaring bankruptcy, has both transformed food production as well as the local communities in which those farms “resided.”

Here’s what critics of farm consolidation are saying — that it has led to less crop diversity, presenting risks for the broader food system.

“The disappearance of small farms has carried steep consequences for rural America, upending the transfer of wealth between generations,” the Journal observed.

Even here in rural Pennsylvania, non-farmers seldom hear about the challenges playing havoc with the industry, and if they do, they often don’t think much about them as they reflect on the challenges they are encountering in their own careers.

It would do well for the general public to be better educated about farming’s challenges plus comparisons of such facts as the amount of acreage planted here “then and now,” crop production, dairy farm production, the list can go on and on.

Most important, though, is knowing about the industry’s challenges and how they affect virtually everyone.