Do You Fit The Definition And Demographics Of A Family Farm?

If you lived in a big city and listened to the media interviewing all of the critics of agriculture, you would swear that the family farm became extinct sometime in the last century. Food only comes from those “factory farms,” according to the talking heads and others who have PR agents that ensure they are quoted in the major publications. Yep, you betcha, all of those family farms have been bought up and run off by those big corporations. Well, we’ll see about that.

USDA’s latest report on the structure of American farms still has 98% of them being family operations, even some of the largest operations in the nation are family farms. The report comes from USDA’s Economics Research Service, and there is enough in the report to cover in several editions. So we begin with an overview of the US farm, and the ERS definition of a “family farm,” which is, “any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the operator and individuals related to the operator by blood or marriage, including relatives who do not reside in the operator’s household.” Does that define you?
USDA’s report is keyed on 2007, which is the date the last Ag Census was taken, but it is also a year of strong commodity prices and higher than average farm income. The economists say, “Real net farm income was $71 billion in 2007, about 18 percent higher than the previous year and 7 percent higher than the average for the previous 10 years. Net farm income increased another 20 percent in 2008, but declined to $55 billion in 2009.”

The number of farms in the US peaked at 6.8 million in 1935 and fell sharply until the early 1970’s when the decline was not as steep. The trend stabilized and the 2007 Ag Census saw a 1% increase in farm numbers. ” A recent ERS study found that two-thirds of the growth in U.S. agricultural output per hour between 1981 and 2004 came from technological change, such as biotechnology, improved animal husbandry, and improvements in machinery and chemicals. Larger farms—like thousand-acre farms—were better able to take advantage of these technological developments and increased their share of sales.”

Small family farms, which have annually sales of less than $250,000, make up 88% of farms, and hold 64% of all farming assets, including 63% of farmland. Large family farms and non-family farms have sales exceeding $250,000 and make up 12% of farm numbers, but produce 84% of the value of farm production. However, the smaller farms produce a substantial share of certain commodities, such as “23% of the value of production for cash grains and soybeans, 51% for hay, 34% for tobacco, and 22% for beef. At the other extreme, small farms contribute a miniscule share to the value of production for hogs (5%) and poultry (3%).” USDA says because of their land holdings, small farms account for 76% of the land enrolled in the CRP and other conservation programs.
One of the reasons for the 1% growth in the number of farms in the 2007 Ag Census was the explosion in the number of retirement and rural lifestyle farms. The median acreage operated by those farms is 69 for retirement and 58 for rural lifestyle. On the other extreme are the 37% of very large family farms with annual sales of $1 million or more, of which there are 47,600 and dominate the production of high-value crops (vegetables, fruits and tree nuts, and nursery and greenhouse products), hogs, dairy, poultry, and beef. While those farms make up only 2%, they account for 53% of the production. The median acreage for small farms and large scale family farms is 414 and 1,062 respectively.
Labor requirements are 1 person on a residential or lifestyle farm, but it jumps to 1.4 persons for low sales farms and up to 8.4 people for very large farms. The majority of retirement, rural lifestyle and non-family farms are full owners of the land, and leasing is only common among family farms with at least $100,000 in sales. 12-13% of family farms own no land, and rent all of it.

Summary:
An initial sketch of US farms indicates 98% of them fit in the official definition of family farm. Small versions have annual sales of less than a quarter million, but make up 88% of all of the farms. While large family farms make up 53% of total production. Size of farms indicates a wide variety, many of which are between 110 and 414 acres, due to higher labor requirements for larger production.