Smallest number of U.S. farms since 1850, says ag census

The United States, one of the agricultural powers of the world, has the smallest number of farms — 1.9 million — since 1850, when there were only 31 states and four territories, said the USDA Census of Agriculture on Tuesday. Nearly four of every 10 farmers were over the age of 65 in 2022, when the data was collected, an abrupt surge from the 2017 census, when one in three farmers was retirement age.

Farm consolidation has been the story of American agriculture since the Great Depression, when there were 6.8 million farms. Mechanization, hybrid seeds, and synthetic fertilizer and pesticides allowed vast increases in productivity while reducing the need for labor. Farm output is so large that one fifth of production is exported.

“The number of producers [age] 65 and over increased 12%, continuing the trend of an aging producer population,” said a highlight sheet for the census, describing changes since 2017. There was a 9 percent decline in the number of farmers aged 35-65 years.

Somewhat buffering the aging of agriculture were increases in the number of beginning farmers and farmers under the age of 35. There were 1 million beginning farmers, those with less than 10 years’ experience, an 11% increase. Beginning farmers had an average age of 47.1 years, compared to the U.S. average of 58.1 years. There were 296,480 farmers under the age of 35, comprising 9% of all farmers.

Farm numbers have drifted slowly downward from around 2.5 million since the early 1970s after a four-decade plunge that began in the 1930s. The 2022 census reported 1.9 million farms, a drop of 142,000, or 6%, in five years. It was the smallest count since 1.4 million farms in 1850, according to statistical references. Farm numbers grew as the nation expanded and peaked in 1935.

“The hope would be that we would continue to encourage people to get in and remain in the farming business and that we would be able to preserve our farmland. But survey after survey continues to show a decline in the number of farms and in the farmland,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He pointed to Biden administration initiatives to create new revenue streams for agriculture and, with a new farm bill on the agenda for Congress this year, called for “a different model” that supported small- and medium-size farmers as well as large-scale “production agriculture.” Smaller operators often rely on off-farm income.

Agricultural production is dominated by a small portion — 6% — of farms with more than $1 million in annual sales. Those 105,384 farms operate 31% of farmland and generate three fourths of sales. Three fourths of U.S. farms have sales of less than $50,000 a year. The USDA definition of a farm is place that could produce or sell $1,000 of agricultural goods in a year; there are periodic debates over whether the definition is realistic.

“The latest census numbers put in black and white the warnings our members have been expressing for years,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, who called for passage of a new farm bill. “Increased regulations, rising supply costs, lack of available labor, and weather disasters have all squeezed farmers to the point that many of them find it impossible to remain economically sustainable.”

Eight percent of farms had renewable energy systems, solar panels for the most part, in the 2022 census, an increase of 15 percent from 2017, said the census. Some 79% of farms have internet access, a 4-point increase.

Farming is an overwhelmingly white occupation. Some 95% of farm operators are white.

The Census of Agriculture began in 1840 in conjunction with the once-a-decade U.S. census and since 1920 has been conducted every five years. Based on responses to questionnaires sent to every known farm, it is the most comprehensive picture available of U.S. farming, said the USDA.

The Census of Agriculture is available here.

A USDA chart of farm numbers over the years is available here.