10/27/06 The farm survey

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 Family Farm Report from USDA. Report author Robert Hoppe says 98 percent of the farms in Idaho and across the nation are family owned, with 91 percent of those farms considered to be small scale operations. What about, the 9 percent classified as large farms? HOPPE "In most is income 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 come 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." Idaho had 25 thousand farms last year, each averaging about 472 acres. Those numbers haven't changed much in the past five years but 25 years ago the state had 600 fewer farms but the average size then was 623 acres. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott