Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report ... - AgWeb

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Table 1Farms, land in farms, and sales, 1978 and 2007YearPct. changeItem 1978 2007 (annualized)Farms (number) 2,476,340 2,204,792 -0.6Land in farms (million acres) 973.7 922.1 -0.3Market value of agriculturalproducts sold (billion 2007 dollars) 1 176.3 297.2 2.8Notes: Abnormal farms—defined as institutional, experimental, and research farms—are excluded.The count of farms from the census is slightly higher than the count from the AgriculturalResource Management Survey (ARMS) because the census includes farms in Alaska andHawaii while ARMS excludes them. For more information, see Appendix II.1Sales are expressed in constant 2007 dollars, using the Producer Price Index for Farm Productsto adjust for farm prices. Sales exclude Government payments.Source: USDA, Economic Research Service, compiled from Census of Agriculture data (U.S.Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 1981; USDA, National Agricultural StatisticsService, 2009).Share of Farms, Production, and AssetsThree features of U.S. farm structure stand out (fig. 4). First, small familyfarms make up 88 percent of all U.S. farms. Second, large-scale familyfarms—only 9 percent of all farms—account for a disproportionately large,66-percent share of the value of production. Third, farming is still an industryof family businesses. Ninety-eight percent of farms are family farms, andthey account for 82 percent of production. Only 2 percent of U.S farms arenonfamily farms, accounting for the remaining 18 percent of production.Despite their 16-percent share of total farm production, small farms producea larger share of specific commodities: 23 percent of the value of productionfor cash grains and soybeans, 51 percent for hay, 34 percent for tobacco, and22 percent for beef. At the other extreme, small farms contribute a minisculeshare to the value of production for hogs (5 percent) and poultry (3 percent).The largest share of small-farm production occurs among medium-salesfarms, which account for 7 percent of total U.S. production. 2The share of assets and land held by small farms is also substantially morethan indicated by their small share of production. Small farms hold 64percent of all farm assets, including 63 percent of the land owned by farms(fig. 5). Because of their large land holdings—in aggregate—small farms areimportant in conservation efforts. Small farms account for 76 percent of theland farmers enroll in USDA land-retirement programs: the ConservationReserve Program (CRP), the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program(CREP), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and the Farmable WetlandsProgram (FWP).Farm SizeVariation in farm size—whether measured in sales, acres, or labor use—helps explain the distribution of agricultural production. The 1.4 millionretirement and residential/lifestyle farms account for only 6 percent ofproduction because most of these farms are very small (table 2). Seventy-six2This report measures farm size usinggross farm sales, or the revenue associatedwith all the production of the farm,including the production accruing toshare landlords and contractors. Othermeasures of sales exist, however, and thesmall-farm share of the value of productiondepends on the sales measure used.For example, if the measure used is grosscash farm income (GCFI)—total revenuereceived by the farm business alone—thesmall-farm share of production increasesto 22 percent. This increase is mostlydue to an expansion of the number ofpoultry farms classified as small whenGCFI is used. For more information, seeHoppe et al. (2010, pp. 3-4).6Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition / EIB-66Economic Research Service/USDA
percent of the farms in both groups have annual sales of less than $10,000,including 31 percent with sales of less than $1,000.Farms with less than $1,000 in sales do not appear to satisfy the $1,000 salesrequirement in the current farm definition. However, these “point farms” areincluded in the farm count because they might normally have sales that highand satisfy the sales requirement. If a farm does not have $1,000 in sales, aFigure 4Share of total farms and value of production by farm type, 2007Large-scale family farms account for 66 percent of production9.32.417.716.488.365.9Farms Value of production 1Small family farms Large-scale family farms Nonfamily farms1The value of production measures the value of commodities produced in a given year,without the effects of inventory change. It is calculated by multiplying the quantity of eachcommodity produced by the price of the commodity.Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service and Economic Research Service,2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, Phase III.Figure 5Share of farm assets, acres owned by farms, and acres enrolled inland-retirement programs 1 by farm type, 2007Small farms account for most farm assets9.37.18.529.430.115.264.162.876.3AssetsAcres ownedby farmsAcres enrolled in landretirementprograms 1Small family farms Large-scale family farms Nonfamily farms1Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program,Wetlands Reserve Program, and Farmable Wetlands Program.Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service and Economic Research Service,2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, Phase III.7Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition / EIB-66Economic Research Service/USDA
Page 1 and 2: United StatesDepartment ofAgricultu
Page 3 and 4: United StatesDepartmentof Agricultu
Page 5 and 6: References. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Page 7 and 8: Distribution of farms, total produc
Page 9 and 10: IntroductionThe Family Farm Report,
Page 11 and 12: As in previous issues, the Agricult
Page 13: came from technological change, suc
Page 17 and 18: “point system” assigns values f
Page 19 and 20: Full economic costs of milk product
Page 21 and 22: Cow-calf enterprises offer three ad
Page 23 and 24: Location of U.S. Farms and Producti
Page 25 and 26: Table 4Farms and production by reso
Page 27 and 28: majority of farms in the region, 65
Page 29 and 30: Farm Operators, Principal and Secon
Page 32 and 33: farms. Since these farmers produce
Page 34 and 35: Farm Income and Financial Performan
Page 36 and 37: Defining the Financial MeasuresSome
Page 38 and 39: Operator Household Income and Net W
Page 40 and 41: of operator household net worth, re
Page 42: About three-fourths of medium-sales
Page 45 and 46: ContractingContracts can potentiall
Page 47 and 48: Types of ContractsA contract is a l
Page 49 and 50: per year rather than below the pove
Page 52: general—are overwhelmingly male.
Page 55 and 56: Farming in Metropolitan AreasFarmin
Page 57 and 58: Figure 15Mean operator household in
Page 59 and 60: into the Twenty-first Century. Marv
Page 61 and 62: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Nat
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In fact, the number of farms in eac
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(version 3). Respondents provide wh
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iefing room. Both sets of estimates
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• Farm operators forget minor or
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ecause the sector accounts extend b
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