How many people can the average farmer feed?

Question

i want to know the statistical ratio of one farmer to x number of people fed

Answer 1

farmer feeding ratio is   1/ 85

an asian survey report - 2006 - 07

Answer 2

This is actually a difficult question to answer.  People who work in the agriculture sector make up less than 1% of the population in the U.S.A.

Going from memory (my books are packed and I cannot look it up), one farmer feeds 167 people in the U.S.A.

However most farms are modern mono-crop farms.  That means the farmer only grows ONE crop, like just wheat, or just apples, or just beef cattle.

So the average farmer does not "feed" any one person, but rather supplies just one component of a person's diet.

So statistically, there is one farmer for every 167 people in the U.S.  However Farmer Smith grows corn, Farmer Jones grows watermellons, and Farmer McDonald grows pigs.

You cannot actually live off of what any ONE of them grows.  

There are some small, and diverse farms which would be able to meet most of, but not all of a persons food needs.  We live on a small permaculture farm.  We grow about 90% of our own food.  We would be able to FEED about 30 families, 90% of their food needs.   More, if we hired help, and got really intensive in our growing practices.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 3

The amount of people that a farmer feeds is dependant upon the crop he is growing and how many acres he has of it.  For example, a farmer that has 30,000 acres of potatoes is going to feed a lot more people than a farmer that has 1 acre of kohlrabi.  Also, a farmer with an acre of potatoes will feed a lot more people than a farmer with that same acre of kohlrabi.  I mean, how much kohlrabi do you eat?  (Or okra or huckleberries or other random, more rare fruits and veggies?)

The general rule of thumb that is used is that:

~According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, advanced technology allows one farmer can currently feed 129 people. In 1960, one farmer fed 25 people.

~According to Today's Farmer, America’s farmers are the world’s most productive. Today, each U.S. farmer produces food and fiber for 143 people in the United States and abroad.

Answer 4

Last time I was through Kansas their billboard said 139 people and himself.  Not too many years ago it was less than 100.  Agriculture is one of the most productive sectors of our economy.

Answer 5

it depends on what he is growing and what equipment he is using, 1/100 i would think vary doable with minimal equipment.

Answer 6

Your question is a bit illogical. An average farmer can feed no people in the middle of a flood or severe drought.

But you have a whole set of numbers that would be correct if we take into account farmers in all countries, with all different levels of mechanization, different land forms, climates and areas available.

Do we even count a person on one hectare as a farmer? NO? But some of the world's most productive farming is on one hectare lots.

Do we include a rancher with cattle spread over hundreds of square km of relatively dry pasture land?  How about his ranch hands?

There is just no agreement on who is to be counted as a farmer or even a farm, so giving an average is meaningless.

I would not be an average farmer, but if I ran a farm 100 times bigger I could feed 30 times as many people. But do you really want to know how many I can feed? your question suggests you do not want to know that.