The state of the American small farmer

Tom Philpott at the Gristmill blog wrote a few days ago about the implications of the 2007 Farm Bill for small-scale farmers. He discusses two reports recently released by the USDA's Economic Research Service. I haven't read either of the reports yet, but Economic Well-Being of Farm Households and Growing Farm Size and the Distribution of Farm Payments contain findings that can only be described as a wake-up call for small farmers and especially for aspiring farmers.