USDA issues report on family farms
Thursday, July 29, 2010
USDA’s latest report on the structure of American farms still has 98% of them being family operations, even some of the largest operations in the nation are family farms. The report comes from USDA’s Economics Research Service.
The number of farms in the US peaked at 6.8 million in 1935 and fell sharply until the early 1970’s when the decline was not as steep. The trend stabilized and the 2007 Ag Census saw a 1% increase in farm numbers. ” A recent ERS study found that two-thirds of the growth in U.S. agricultural output per hour between 1981 and 2004 came from technological change, such as biotechnology, improved animal husbandry, and improvements in machinery and chemicals. Larger farms—like thousand-acre farms—were better able to take advantage of these technological developments and increased their share of sales.”
Small family farms, which have annually sales of less than $250,000, make up 88% of farms, and hold 64% of all farming assets, including 63% of farmland. Large family farms and non-family farms have sales exceeding $250,000 and make up 12% of farm numbers, but produce 84% of the value of farm production. However, the smaller farms produce a substantial share of certain commodities, such as “23% of the value of production for cash grains and soybeans, 51% for hay, 34% for tobacco, and 22% for beef. At the other extreme, small farms contribute a miniscule share to the value of production for hogs (5%) and poultry (3%).” USDA says because of their land holdings, small farms account for 76% of the land enrolled in the CRP and other conservation programs.
For More Info Contact:
John Hawkins, News Service Director
Phone 309 557-2237 Fax (800) 640-1995 E-mail jhawkins@ilfb.org
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