As America celebrates 250 years of independence, new USDA data raise a fundamental question: Farmers create wealth, who keeps it?

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, one question linked to its agrarian roots goes to the heart of the nation’s future: Who will own America’s food system?

Americans have never spent more on food, yet many farmers continue operating on tighter — and negative — margins.

That contradiction is at the heart of new USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) data released June 1 that echoes a recent observation by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), during a Senate Agriculture Committee oversight hearing with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.

“Our farmers create an immense amount of wealth, they just don’t get any of it,” said Welch. The numbers suggest he’s asking the right question.

ERS reports Americans spent a record $2.51 trillion on food in 2025, nearly 60% more in inflation-adjusted dollars than in 1997. At the same time, food consumed just 9.7% of disposable personal income, down from 10.4% in 1997.

Consumers are spending more dollars than ever, but food takes a smaller share of household income than it did nearly 30 years ago!

So where did the money go?

USDA’s Food Dollar data show that of every consumer dollar spent on domestically produced food in 2024, just 3.3 cents was attributed to livestock production (including dairy) and 2.5 cents to crop production. The remainder flowed to food processing, foodservice, wholesale and retail trade, transportation, finance, packaging, energy, and other services.

Those numbers don’t suggest farmers are creating less wealth. They suggest they are keeping less of it.

Meanwhile, the food industry has become larger and more consolidated in pursuit of efficiency. Processing plants are fewer and larger. Retailing is more concentrated.

Farmers often have fewer buyers competing for their products, while consumers continue paying record grocery bills. The efficiencies have increased productivity throughout the food chain, but many producers question whether enough of the value created is making its way back to the farm.

Dairy illustrates the disconnect. USDA’s latest annual Milk Production, Disposition and Income Summary shows farmers marketed nearly 5.8 billion more pounds of milk in 2025 than the year before. Production increased, consumers continued purchasing dairy products and the industry created more economic value.

Yet dairy farm cash receipts declined by about $1.9 billion as milk prices fell.

Beef tells a different story. Cattle producers are finally enjoying better, even profitable prices, but only after the U.S. beef cow herd declined to its lowest level in 75 years, tightening supplies enough to restore some pricing power.

The bigger question extends well beyond the current farm economy.

Agriculture is unlike most other sectors of the economy. Farmers don’t simply move wealth through the system—they create it. Every gallon of milk, every bushel of grain and every pound of beef begins as new life on a farm from a planting or a breeding.

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, the question is about more than grocery prices. It is about preserving the independent farm sector that has long been the foundation of the nation’s food security, rural economy and agricultural strength.

During the same Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Sen. Jim Justice, (R. WV) said agriculture needs “a great big plan… to solve this riddle,” warning against simply spinning in circles while avoiding the hard questions.

Perhaps this is the riddle.

USDA’s own data show Americans are spending more than ever on food, while food consumes a smaller share of household income than it did a generation ago. Yet many farmers continue operating on tighter — or even negative — margins, even as they create the wealth on which the entire food economy depends.

The question is no longer simply how to keep food affordable. It is how to ensure enough of the wealth created on America’s farms remains there, so independent farmers can continue owning their land, investing in their communities and passing those farms to the next generation.

As America marks its 250th birthday on July 4th, preserving a strong, independent farm sector may be the most important investment the nation can make because as America begins its next 250 years, the question isn’t what we’ll eat…

It’s who will own America’s food system?