40% of Farms Managed by Multiple Operators

New data released last week by the USDA shows nearly 40% of all U.S. farms are managed by more than one operator.  USDA’s Economic Research Service says in 2015, 39% of the more than 800,000 U.S. farms had secondary operators.  Commercial-sized farms often require more management and labor than an individual can provide.

Because nearly all farms are family-owned, family members often serve as secondary operators and nearly two-thirds of all secondary operators were spouses of principal operators. Multiple-operator farms are most prevalent among nonfamily farms, accounting for 85% of that group. Some multiple-operator farms are also run by multiple generations. About 6% of all farms, and 16% of all multiple-operator farms, were multiple-generation farms, with at least 20 years' difference between the ages of the oldest and youngest operators.

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