Bigger Farms, Bigger Challenges: The Costs of Growing with Tim Meyer

03/10/2025 9 min

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Episode Synopsis

Expanding acres, adding livestock, or investing in bigger equipment can spread out costs and boost efficiency — but growth also brings new challenges. In this episode, Tim Meyer, associate professor of practice in agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, joins Nebraska FARMcast to discuss why bigger isn’t always better for family farms. He explains how expansion can stretch labor, complicate management, and add hidden costs that cut into profitability. Meyer also shares what signs producers can watch for that growth may be working against them, and how to strike the right balance between efficiency and sustainability.More: https://cap.unl.edu/news/diseconomies-scale-family-farm/

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