USDA releases 2019 report on family farms - Entrepreneur Generations

On Friday the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service released a new report with updated data on family farms in the United States. "America's Diverse Family Farms: 2019 Edition" aims to give stakeholders a more granular view of farming life in 2018, since huge agri-businesses can skew averages. The report is based on a sample of about 15,800 farms.

"For example, in 2018, the average value of production on the 2 million U.S. farms amounted to $174,038. Few farms, however, are near the average; half of farms had production valued at $6,000 or less, while more than half of all production occurred on farms with at least $1 million of agricultural production," the report notes.

The ERS defines a family farm as one where the principal operator (and possibly some of their relatives) owns the majority of the business and makes most of the day-to-day decisions. Farm size is measured by gross cash farm income, a measure of the farm's revenue that includes sales of crops and livestock, government payments, fees from production contracts, and other farm-related income.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

• Family farms accounted for 98 percent of farms and 88% of production in 2018.
• Large-scale family farms accounted for the largest share of production, at 46%.
• About 90% of U.S. farms were classified as small, meaning they have a gross cash farm income of less than $350,000.
• Small farms accounted for 48% of the land operated by farms. 
• Between 58% and 81% of small family farms, depending on the farm type, were deemed at a high risk of financial problems. However, the report notes, the operators of many small farms don't consider farming their primary occupation and receive substantial income from off-farm sources.
• Midsize and large-scale family farms accounted for 82% of cotton production, 74% of cash grains/soybeans production, and 66% of hog production.

Read the full report here.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/38TxtF8 USDA releases 2019 report on family farms - Entrepreneur Generations

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