The small, American family farm should be on the endangered species list. But at least here in Butler County they’re not going away quietly.

On Tuesday night Butler County Commissioners had their first farm town hall event at Butler County Community College. Farmers jumped at the chance to air their concerns — more than 100 turned out and spoke about how agriculture has faded from the consciousness of young people.

It might shock you just how correct they are. In 2014 the U.S. Department of Agriculture released five-year census data that pegged the average farmer as nearly 59 years old. And age isn’t the only problem.

One farmer said that state efforts like the Pennsylvania Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which restricts the use of land for animal grazing, are part of the issue.

Another said the business side of farming often proves inscrutable for those trying to take over the family business from aging relatives.

The effects have been stark — not just here, but nationwide.

In 1935 there were more than 6 million farms across America. As of 2012 there were about 2 million, according to the USDA. And as of earlier this year agriculture in the United States was hurtling toward a sad milestone: fewer than 2 million farms for the first time since the country’s great westward expansion following the Louisiana Purchase.

Meanwhile the amount of land being used to farm has remained relatively steady, and average size of the American farm has more than doubled. The top 10 percent of farms account for more than 70 percent of the country’s cropland.

But this isn’t necessarily a story about large, corporate farms gobbling up family operations. It’s far more complicated than that. It’s higher seed costs; genetic patenting; a global commodity slump; farmland values falling from all-time highs; and more. The average, small-scale farmer isn’t just a farmer anymore. In 2013, 91 percent of all farm households relied on multiple sources of income to make ends meet, according to the USDA.

Amid all of this upheaval the prevailing national conversation has been about policies that focus on the country’s industrial agriculture. Our family farms have either been left to their own devices or swept up in the wash of federal and state programs that have little concern for their comments or concerns.

President Dwight Eisenhower once said that farming is easy when your plow is a pencil and the nearest corn field is miles away. Maybe it’s time to starting listening more intently to the men and women who come home every night with dirt under their fingernails.