Although it’s no big surprise, the 2022 Census of Agriculture reveals there are fewer, but larger, farms in the U.S. And these farms are being run by older farmers.
Data collected from 2017 to 2022 indicated the country has 1.9 million farms, a 7% decline from the last census report. However, the average farm size increased 5% to 463 acres. The total number of acres used for farming was 880 million acres, a 2% drop, but that comprised 39% of all U.S. land.
Another interesting data point showed there were a little more than 3.374 million farmers and farm workers in the country, averaging 58.1 years old. This showed an increase of six months over the previous survey in 2017.
Source: USDA
The number of hog farms with inventory declined from 66,439 to 60,809 farms with all size categories experiencing a decline from 2017 to 2022. The number of hog farms with sales declined from 64,871 to 56,265 farms, and 80% of the decline was due to having fewer farms with sales of 100 hogs or less, the report showed.
“The Census of Agriculture, taken every five years, counts and details U.S. farms and is used to shape the nation’s agricultural policies. The data also helps inform decisions about farm jobs, transportation, production practices, new technologies, marketing opportunities, and farm services and programs, according to USDA,” the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) reports in Capital Update.
Other key points that stood out in the Census include:
- U.S. farms and ranches produced $543 billion in agricultural products, up from $389 billion in 2017. With farm production expenses of $424 billion, U.S. farms had net cash income of $152 billion. Average farm income rose to $79,790. A total of 43% of farms had positive net cash farm income in 2022.
- Farms with internet access continued to rise from 75% in 2017 to 79% in 2022.
- In 2022, 116,617 farms sold directly to consumers, with sales of $3.3 billion. Value of sales increased 16% from 2017.
- There were just over 1 million farmers with 10 or fewer years of experience, an increase in the number of beginning farmers from 2017 of 11%. Beginning farmers are younger than all farmers, with an average age of 47.1.
- The number of producers under age 35 was 296,480, comprising 9% of all producers. The 221,233 farms with young producers making decisions tend to be larger than average in both acres and sales.
- In 2022, 1.2 million female producers accounted for 36% of all producers. Fifty-eight percent of all farms had at least one female decision maker.
“For over 180 years, the Census of Agriculture has given us an opportunity to hear directly from the producers about themselves and their operations. The more we understand, the better positioned we are to support the agricultural community that gives so much to our nation and the world,” says Troy Joshua, Director, Statistics Division and Executive Director, Agricultural Statistics Board, USDA NASS.
