08/25/06 Survey of family farms

Small scale farming operations have the numbers but it's the larger farms that bring in the income. That's one of the conclusions in the 2005 Family Farm Report from USDA. Report author Robert Hoppe says 98 percent of the farms in Idaho and the nation are family owned, with 91 percent of those farms considered small scale operations. What about, the 9 percent classified as large farms? HOPPE "In most income is from farm sources for those farms that are above 250 thousand." Three quarters of all farm income comes from the large scale operations but when it comes to assets. HOPPE "We've known for some time that of the assets are actually held by small scale operations." Small farms account for two thirds of all farm assets. Most small scale farm income does not come from non-farm sources. HOPPE "About half the US farms have sales of less than 10 thousand dollars. They'd be part time farms or retirement farms. They're very heavily dependent on all farm income either from a job or retirement income." 30 percent of the income for large scale farms comes from outside the farm. Small farms make up 82 percent of the land enrolled in conservation programs, many of which are popular with Idaho producers. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott