Agriculture Census Shows Farm Numbers Down; More Newcomers

The US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Tuesday said the 2022 Census of Agriculture showed a continued decline in the total number of US farms but a rise in new and beginning producers.

The survey is conducted every five years and this latest survey collected move than 6 million data points.

 

WHAT WAS FOUND

 

Ag census data provide valuable insights into demographics, economics, land use and activities on US farms and ranches such as:

  • There were 1.9 million farms and ranches (down 7% from 2017) with an average size of 463 acres (up 5%) on 880 million acres of farmland (down 2%).  This is 39% of all US land.
  • Family-owned and operated farms accounted for 95% of all farms and operated 84% of land in farms.
  • US farms and ranches produced $543 billion in agricultural products, up from $389 billion in 2017.  With production expenses of $424 billion, US farms had net cash income of $152 billion.  Average farm income rose to $79,790.  A total of 43% of farms had positive net cash farm income in 2022.
  • Farms with internet access continued to rise from 75% in 2017 to 79% in 2022.
  • A total of 153,101 farms and ranches used renewable energy compared with 133,176 in 2017, a 15% increase.  The majority of these farms (76%) used solar panels.
  • In 2022, 116,617 farms sold directly to consumers, with sales of $3.3 billion.  Value of sales increased 16% from 2017.
  • The 105,384 farms with sales of $1 million or more were 6% of total farms and 31% of farmland; they sold more than 75% of all agricultural products.  The 1.4 million farms with sales of $50,000 or less accounted for 74% of the total, 25% of farmland and 2% of sales.
  • Nearly 75% of farmland was used by farms specializing in two commodity categories: oilseed and grain production (32%) and beef cattle production (40%).
  • The average age of producers was 58.1 years, up 0.6 from 2017.  This is a smaller increase than average age increases between prior censuses.
  • There were more than 1 million farmers with 10 or fewer years of experience, an increase in the number of beginning farmers from 2017 of 11%.  Beginning farmers had an average age of 47.1 years.
  • The number of producers under age 35 was 296,480, comprising 9% of all producers.  The 221,233 farms with young producers making decisions tend to be larger than average in both acres and sales.
  • In 2022, 1.2 million female producers accounted for 36% of all producers.  Fifty-eight percent of all farms had at least one female decision maker.

The response rate for the 2022 Census of Agriculture was 61%; more than 40% of responses were submitted online.

 

CATTLE, BEEF RECAP

 

The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $175.69 per cwt to $182.78, compared with last week’s range of $175.15 to $182.00 per cwt.  FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $280.06 per cwt to $287.55, compared with $275.52 to $286.37.

The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $1.30 per cwt at $295.30 while select was up $3.97 at $287.99.  The choice/select spread narrowed to $7.31 from $9.98 with 114 loads of fabricated product and 20 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.

The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.35 to $1.45 a bushel over the Mar corn contract, which settled at $4.17 3/4 a bushel, down $0.06 1/2.

No delivery intentions were posted Thursday for the Feb live cattle contract.

The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended
Wednesday was $244.93 per cwt, down $1.73.  This compares with Thursday’s Mar contract settlement of $247.10, up $0.87.