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Production Shifting to Very Large Family Farms
Robert
Hoppe
David Banker
Ron Nichols, USDA
U.S.
farm production is shifting to larger operations at the same time
that people are continuing to be involved with part-time, small-scale
farming operations. Small family farms (annual sales below $250,000)
still account for most of the Nation’s farms, but their share
of the value of U.S. agricultural production fell by nearly a third
between 1993 and 2003. (Sales and production are adjusted for price
changes and are reported in 2003 dollars.)
The number of small family farm operators who reported farming
as their primary occupation has declined. In 1993, these farms accounted
for 37 percent of all farms and 32 percent of the value of production.
By 2003, their shares had fallen to 27 percent of all farms and
20 percent of production. By contrast, residential farms—or
small farms whose operators report off-farm work as their primary
occupation—rose from 36 percent of all farms in 1993 to 42
percent in 2003. But their average sales were very low ($12,000
in 2003), accounting for only 5 percent of production. In addition,
small family farms with retired operators also increased as a proportion
of all farms over the last decade.
Where did production go? Between 1993 and 2003, the number of
nonfamily farms, which include farms with hired managers as well
as farms organized as nonfamily corporations and cooperatives, grew
by about a fourth to 35,000, and their share of production rose
from 10 to 14 percent. But the major production shift is attributed
to very large family farms, which have at least $500,000 in annual
sales. The number of very large family farms rose by nearly half
to 66,600 over the period, while their share of production grew
from 33 to 44 percent. Production of livestock and fruits and vegetables
has long been concentrated among very large family farms; substantial
shares of field crop production are shifting to those operations
as well.
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This article is drawn from...
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Structural
and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms: 2004 Family Farm Report,
edited by David E. Banker and James M. MacDonald, AIB-797, USDA,
Economic Research Service, March 2005.
For more information on the characteristics of U.S. farms and
changes in their size distribution, visit the ERS
Briefing Room on Farm Structure.
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