Census of Agriculture
The 2022 Census of Agriculture continues the trend of declining number of farms and increasing average age of farmers. I also shows mixed results in terms of farmers adopting conserving agricultural practices.
USDA NASS has released the 2022 Census of Agriculture data, which revealed important information about the current state of agriculture.
The 2017 Census of Agriculture found a 3% decline in the total number of farms in the U.S., and that since the 1997 Ag Census the decline has been 7.8%.
The data was five years in the making. What will it tell us about farms, farming and farmers?
As usual, there’s farmer buzz and speculation about the accuracy of the numbers because many farmers don’t fill out the survey.
USDA will release the 2017 Census of Agriculture on Thursday, April 11. Ahead of the data release, take a look at some key data sets from the 2012 edition.
Farmers are still more likely to be male, and there’s a growing gap between age and experience.
he number of U.S. farms that are either very big or pretty small probably grew during a period when agriculture incomes fell 22 percent, pressuring mid-sized growers whose debt skyrocketed.