One U.S. Farm Feeds 166 People
America’s farms and farmers are the world’s most productive. Today, each farm produces food and fiber for 166 people annually in the United States and abroad. Of those 166 people, 106 are in the U.S. and 60 are outside the U.S. The global population is expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, which means the world’s farmers will have to grow about 70% more food than what is now produced.
Family Farmers & Ranchers Feed America
Today, 98% of all U.S. farms are owned by individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. Just 2% of America’s farms and ranches are owned by non-family corporations or other entities.
In addition, 87% of U.S. ag products sold are produced on family farms or ranches. Non-family corporations or other entities account for only 13% of U.S. ag product sales.
Farm Demographics
There are 3.4 million U.S. farm operators who work on 2 million farms. They run the farm, making decisions about planting, harvesting, feeding, marketing and so on. Operators may be owners, members of the owner’s household, a hired manager, a tenant, a renter or a sharecropper. The average age of principal farm operators has been steadily increasing over the past several decades and is now 58.
The number of farm operators of Hispanic origin, is higher, up 13% to 112,451. There also are more African American, up 2% to 45,508 and slightly fewer American Indian/Alaska Native down .5% to 58,199 farm operators.
Women make up 36% or 1,227,461 of the total number of farm operators and 56% of all farms have at least one female decision-maker.
8% of all farmers are 34 years old or under.
One quarter of all farmers are beginning farmers, which means in business less than 10 years and their average age is 46.
11% of farmers have served or are serving in the military.
Texas has the most farmers at 248,416 followed by Missouri at 95,320, Iowa at 88,104, Oklahoma at 78,531 and Ohio at 77,805.
Total land in farms was estimated at 900 million acres in 2017, a decrease of 14.3 million acres since 2012.
Farms are getting bigger. The average farm size was 441 acres in 2017, compared to 434 acres in 2012.
Products Grown by Farmers and Ranchers
Farming accounts for about 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product, but has economic significance beyond the farm gate. The manufacturing of farm machinery and fertilizer is mostly done in metro counties, while farm services and food processing are disproportionately located in non-metro counties. Even in many counties that are dependent on manufacturing or services, farming can be an important component of local communities.
The total annual production is 2.6 trillion pounds, 87% crops and 13% livestock.
Grains (corn, wheat, oats, rice, barley, rye and sorghum) – 965 billion pounds
Hay & Silage – 625.9 billion pounds
Oilseeds (soybeans, sunflowers, peanuts, canola, cottonseed, mustard seed, flaxseed, rapeseed and safflower) – 290 billion pounds
Dairy Products – 232 billion pounds
Horticulture (vegetables, citrus, non-citrus fruits and nuts) – 171 billion pounds
Cotton, Tobacco, Sugarbeets and Sugarcane – 158.8 billion pounds
Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Mushrooms, Hops, Peppermint Oil, Spearmint Oil and Maple Syrup – 55 billion pounds
Poultry (turkeys & broilers) – 42.8 billion pounds
Beef & Veal – 27.1 billion pounds
Pork – 26.2 billion pounds
Eggs – 13.3 billion pounds
Dry Beans, Peas and Lentils – 6.9 billion pounds
Information gathered from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.