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

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Visit Our Website To Learn More!www.ers.usda.govwww.ers.usda.gov/briefing/farmstructureFor paper copies of this report, call the ERS order desk at 1-800-363-2068.Recommended citation format for this publication:Hoppe, Robert A., and David E. Banker. Structure and Finances of U.S.Farms: Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition, EIB-66, U.S. Dept. of Agr.,Econ. Res. Serv. July 2010.Cover photo credit: Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA.The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all itsprograms and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age,disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parentalstatus, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal,or because all or a part of an individual’s income is derived from any publicassistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Personswith disabilities who require alternative means for communication of programinformation (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’sTARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of CivilRights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 orcall (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equalopportunity provider and employer.
United StatesDepartmentof AgricultureA Report from the Economic Research Servicewww.ers.usda.govEconomicInformationBulletinNumber 66July 2010Structure and Finances ofU.S. FarmsFamily Farm Report, 2010 EditionRobert A. Hoppe, rhoppe@ers.usda.govDavid E. Banker, dbanker@ers.usda.govAbstractMost U.S. farms—98 percent in 2007—are family operations, and even the largest farmsare predominantly family run. Large-scale family farms and nonfamily farms accountfor 12 percent of U.S farms but 84 percent of the value of production. In contrast, smallfamily farms make up most of the U.S. farm count but produce a modest share of farmoutput. Small farms are less profitable than large-scale farms, on average, and their operatorhouseholds tend to rely on off-farm income for their livelihood. Generally speaking,farm operator households cannot be characterized as low-income when both farm and offfarmincome are considered. Nevertheless, limited-resource farms still exist and accountfor 3 to 12 percent of family farms, depending on how “limited-resource” is defined.Keywords: Contracting, family farms, farm businesses, farm financial performance,farm-operator household income, farm operators, farm structure, farm type, Governmentpayments, limited-resource farms, metropolitan farming, million-dollar farms, smallfarms, tenure.AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Kevin Barnes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),National Agricultural Statistics Service, Jeffrey Gillespie of Louisiana State University,Ani Katchova of the University of Kentucky, and William D. McBride of USDA,Economic Research Service (ERS) for their reviews and helpful comments. We alsoreceived excellent editing and useful comments from John Weber of the ERS InformationService Division. Finally, we thank Susan DeGeorge for the design and layout of thereport.See the companion brochure, America’s Diverse Family Farms, 2010 Edition (EIB-67).
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Page 9 and 10: IntroductionThe Family Farm Report,
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general—are overwhelmingly male.
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Farming in Metropolitan AreasFarmin
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Figure 15Mean operator household in
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into the Twenty-first Century. Marv
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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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