Agriculture Census Reports Fewer Farms on Fewer Acres

(WASHINGTON, DC) USDA released the 2017 Census of Agriculture this week containing almost six and a half million data points. Census data provide valuable insights into demographics, economics, land, and activities on U.S. farms and ranches. Some key highlights include 2.04 million farms and ranches (down 3.2 percent from 2012) with an average size of 441 acres on 900 million acres (both down 1.6 percent). The 273,000 smallest (less than ten acres) farms make up one-tenth of one percent of all farmland while the 85,000 largest (more than 2,000 acres) farms make up 58 percent of farmland. More than 105,000 farms produced 75 percent of all sales in 2017, down from 120,000 in 2012. Of the two million farms and ranches, the nearly 77-thousand making at least $1 million are responsible for more than two-thirds of the $389 billion in the total value of production.