A new study shows a large gap between farm outputs and the costs associated with farm production over the years.
Data from USDA shows yearly farm-related outputs have tripled in the last 70 years while inputs only increased 4 percent.
According to this graph, it is due to farms shifting away from labor and land, but an increased focus on other inputs. Through 2019, farm labor fell 74 percent and land use declined by nearly a third.
Use of intermediate inputs like fertilizer and pesticides ballooned 126 percent and the use of capital inputs, like machinery, grew 79 percent.
