Exploring Alternative Farm Definitions: Implications for Agricultural Statistics and Program Eligibility
By Erik J. O’Donoghue, Robert A. Hoppe, David E. Banker, and Penni Korb
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-49) 40 pp,
March 2009
Meeting agricultural policy and statistical goals requires a definition of U.S. agriculture’s
basic unit, the farm. However, these goals can be at odds with one another.
USDA defines “farm” very broadly to comprehensively measure agricultural activity.
Consequently, most establishments classified as farms in the United States produce very
little, while most production occurs on a small number of much larger operations. While
desirable for obtaining comprehensive national coverage, measurement and analysis
based on the current definition can provide misleading characterizations of farms and
farm structure in the United States. Additionally, more stringent requirements have been
proposed for farms to qualify for Federal agricultural program benefits. This analysis
outlines the structure of U.S. farms, discusses the current farm definition, evaluates
several potential criteria that have been proposed to define target farms more precisely,
and examines how these criteria affect both statistical coverage and program eligibility.
Keywords: Agricultural statistics, Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), farm income, off-farm income, farm businesses, farm definition, program eligibility, ERS, USDA
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Updated date: March 20, 2009
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