2014 Census of Agriculture

2014 Census of Agriculture

2012 Census of Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The 2012 Census of Ag has been released and ag producers and politicians are beginning to tear it apart. I thought I’d take a minute here and give you some of the highlights. First, farm is defines as “any place from which $1,000 of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the Census year.” In 2012, the United States had 2.1 million farms – down 4.3 percent from the last agricultural Census in 2007. This continues a long-term trend of fewer farms. Between 2007 and 2012, the amount of land in farms in the United States declined from 922 million acres to 915 million acres. This decline of less than one percent was the third smallest decline between Censuses since 1950. In 2012, the average farm size was 434 acres. This was a 3.8 percent increase over 2007, when the average farm was 418 acres. U.S. farms sold nearly $395 billion in agricultural products in 2012. This was 33 percent – $97.4 billion – more than agricultural sales in 2007. Per farm agricultural sales averaged $187,000 in 2012. This was an increase of more than $52,000 (or 39 percent) over 2007. Among 2.1 million principal farm operators in 2012:

? 92% non-Hispanic white, 8% minority

86% men, 14% women

6% under 35 years old, 61% 35 to 54 years, and 33% 65 and older

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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