From a resource standpoint, the important point of this comparison is that including the marginal external costs of production and allocating resources based on the full social cost results in a higher price for the good (Ps > Pp) and less output (Os < Op) than only including the private costs.
Today, the nation's farmers are 17 years older than the average American worker, with the ranks of farmers who are 75 years and up outnumbering those in their prime working years of 35 to 44. One big reason U.S. farmers are going gray: spiraling costs.
Over 22 million people are employed in farm or farm-related jobs, including production agriculture, farm inputs, processing and marketing and wholesale and retail sales. According to the 2002 Census of Agriculture, 50 percent of the farmers are 55 years of age or older, up only three percent from 1997.