What Does It Mean When We Say “Agribusiness”?
Over the past months, one word has come up again and again in conversations about our farm: agribusiness.
It’s a word that sounds big. Industrial. Corporate.
And technically, it applies to us.
We grow flowers. We bale hay. We even plan to sell produce this year.
We do this to support our family and keep working land in production.
By definition, that makes us an agribusiness.
But here’s where things get muddy.
In policy conversations, agribusiness often brings to mind:
Large processing facilities
Heavy truck traffic
Industrial-scale operations
Regional or global distribution systems
That’s one kind of agribusiness.
It’s just not the only kind.
Agriculture has always been a business. The moment food or farm products are sold, it becomes part of the economy. A small flower farm selling $5 stems and a multinational grain company both fall under the same umbrella word, even though their scale, infrastructure needs, and community impact are worlds apart.
We are what could more accurately be called small-scale primary agriculture:
Production happens on the land
Sales are direct or local
Infrastructure is light
Traffic is seasonal and low-volume
The land use is still fundamentally agricultural
That looks very different from:
Processing plants
Storage yards
Feedlots
Distribution hubs
Yet when policy uses only the word agribusiness, those differences can disappear on paper.
The same thing happens with the term agritourism.
Inviting people to pick flowers or buy vegetables from the farm is technically agritourism. So is hosting large-scale events with significant infrastructure, parking, and traffic. Those are not the same land use, but they can end up in the same category in early policy language.
For small farms, that can matter a lot.
When road standards, infrastructure requirements, or permitting frameworks are built around higher-impact commercial uses, small-scale agricultural families can unintentionally get swept into expectations that don’t match their reality. A farm selling flowers, hay, or produce simply doesn’t generate the same traffic, servicing demands, or economic scale as large industrial or event-based operations.
This isn’t about avoiding responsibility. It’s about clarity.
Clear definitions help create fair policies. They help municipalities support agriculture in all its forms, not just the largest or most visible ones. And they help ensure that small working farms remain viable, especially in places where geography and history already make farming a careful balance.
All agriculture is agribusiness.
But not all agribusiness looks the same.
Understanding that difference is an important step toward policies that truly reflect modern rural life.