Corn, wheat, and soy market changes over the last 100 years (2).

Dairy prices over the last 30 years (3).

Cliff Lillywhite talks about what market forces shape his business and how his company grows and acquires customers.

Market changes are making it more difficult for farms to succeed. Control of agricultural assets is being put into fewer and fewer hands and the market has become a place of many sellers and few buyers. This means the farmers have little to no control over commodity prices. Without a competitive market, farmers are earning 13% less for every consumer dollar than they were in 1979 (1). 

Prices are also decreasing because consumers are sensitive to cost. They will buy a little of one thing at a higher price, but they will spend more on that item at a lower price. Market changes are especially detrimental to family farms because they are often unable to produce on the same scale as industrial farms, which means they need to charge more for their products and, as a result, they often receive little to no profit for their commodities.  

However, market prices are not always steady. As shown in the graphs above, corn, wheat, and soy prices spiked during the 1970s. This increase was due to the Soviet Union purchasing a large amount of grain in the global markets, which briefly increased the demand and prices for these crops (4). Although isolated events such as this may temporarily increase the costs of certain commodities, the overall trend is a steady decrease in market prices.