USDA Report on Family Farms Shows Scope of Industry

The USDA Economic Research Service has released a report that looked at the state of family farms in the U.S. for 2017.

Ag Economist Robert Hoppe authored the study and highlights some of the results.

“Farming is basically still a family business in the United States. About 99 percent of the farms are family farms and they account for about 90 percent of the production.”

There are variations of family farms, for example small family farms, those with gross cash farm income of less than $350,000 make up 90 percent of the farms and operate half the farmland, but account for only 25 percent of the production.

Hoppe said for the larger family farms predictably do more.

“About 45 percent of production occurs at large-scale farms. They’re still family operated, but they have revenue greater than a million dollars.”

The biggest production for small-scale operations are poultry and hay.