ERS Charts of Note
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Historically, many U.S. farm households have engaged in other income-generating activities independent of commodity production to support their lifestyles and to help maintain the economic viability of their farm operations. These business ventures can be classified into two broad categories distinguished by the degree to which farm resources are employed or leveraged. Onfarm diversification uses amenities and other attributes of farmland resources and lifestyles to create additional businesses, while other farms operate off-farm businesses in other sectors of their local economy. In 2007, farm households engaged in 791,000 distinct alternative entrepreneurial ventures that generated $26.7 billion in household income. Onfarm diversification and off-farm business ventures each accounted for about half of these activities, but off-farm business ventures generated more than 80 percent of noncommodity business income accruing to farm households. This chart is found in the ERS report, Multi-Enterprising Farm Households: The Importance of Their Alternative Business Ventures in the Rural Economy, EIB-101, October 2012.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The roughly 2.1 million family farms in the United States vary significantly in the level and sources of household income of their principal operators. In 2011, 60 percent of family farms had gross sales of less than $10,000 and negative average farm incomes, typically receiving all of their household income from off-farm sources. Family farms with gross sales of $10,000 to $249,999 represented 30 percent of family farms in 2011, and the households operating these farms earned, on average, positive returns from their operations. Ten percent of family farms in 2011 were considered to be commercial farms, grossing $250,000 or more. While receiving less in off-farm income than those operating small farms, commercial family farm households earned significantly more on the farms they operated. As a result, they had average household incomes more than twice the level of smaller farm households. This chart is from the Farm Household Well-being topic page on the ERS website.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Median total farm household income increased by 5.4 percent in 2011, to $57,067, and is expected to increase another 1.2 percent in 2012, to $57,762. Most farm households operate small farms and rely solely on off-farm income, which is forecast to rise 3.2 percent in 2012. In contrast to the farm households that operate small farms, households associated with commercial farms derive the majority of their income from farming activities. Their median income from farming increased an estimated 7.9 percent in 2011 to $84,697, and their total household income also increased by 7.9 percent, to $127,054. This chart is from the Farm Household Well-being topic page on the ERS website.
Friday, March 30, 2012
In 2010, 16.3 percent of the U.S. population had no form of health insurance compared to 12.8 percent of farm household members. Most Americans receive health insurance through their employers. This is the case for farm operator households as well, since the majority of farm households have an operator or spouse employed off the farm. Farmers are more likely than the general population to directly purchase their health insurance from an insurance company, and less likely to receive health insurance from a government-sponsored program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. This chart is found in the Farm Household Well-Being topic on the ERS website, updated February 13, 2012.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Median total farm household income is expected to increase by 1.9 percent in 2011, to $55,405. Most farm households earn the majority of their income from off-farm sources and off-farm income is expected to increase by 3.0 percent in 2011, to 51,889. In 2010, median total farm household income was $54,370, up 4.1 percent from 2009 and 1.2 percent above the 5-year average for 2006-10. Median farm and off-farm income was $-2,020 and $50,385, respectively, both higher than in 2009. This chart is found in the topic Farm Household Well-Being on the ERS website, updated August 30, 2011.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Small farms (those with less than $50,000 annual sales) accounted for about 85% of all farms reporting direct sales of food to consumers in 2007 (about 116,000 farms). Within this group, direct sales accounted for over 35 percent of total farm sales, on average. Bundling other farm income generating activities (separate from basic commodity production) with direct food sales appears to be an important strategy for small farms. For example, 49 percent of all small farms engaged in organic production also reported direct sales to consumers, as did 33 percent of all small farms participating in community supported agriculture, and 28 percent of all small farms that produced value-added goods on the farm, such as processed products. Small farms appear to exploit complementarities between these activities and direct-sales ventures. For the other onfarm activities, the link with direct sales does not appear as strong. For example, only 8 percent of all small farms operating agritourism enterprises also sold directly to consumers. This chart is found in the ERS report, Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues, ERR-97, May 2010.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
In 2010, about half of farm household members had health insurance coverage from an employment-based plan. One major reason that a farmer or rancher would work solely on the farm and not have access to employer-sponsored insurance through an off-farm job is the intensive time commitment for some commodity specializations. An example of this is dairy production. Farming is the major occupation for nearly all of those who specialize in dairy production-significantly more than the 46 percent across specialties. Compared to the 55 percent of all farm household members who receive insurance from employer-sponsored plans, only 32 percent of dairy household members do. In 2010, about half of dairy household members were uninsured, compared to 12.8 percent for all farm household members. This chart is found in the Farm Household Economics and Well-Being topic on the ERS website, updated November 29, 2011.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Median total farm household income is expected to increase by 1.9 percent in 2011, to $55,405. Most farm households earn the majority of their income from off-farm sources and off-farm income is expected to increase by 3.0 percent in 2011, to 51,889. In 2010, median total farm household income was $54,370, up 4.1 percent from 2009 and 1.2 percent above the 5-year average for 2006-10. Median farm and off-farm income was $-2,020 and $50,385, respectively, both higher than in 2009. This chart is found in the topic page Farm Household Well-Being on the ERS website, updated August 30, 2011.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The distribution of a household's wealth across asset types reflects livelihood orientation and also the extent that changes in particular asset markets have affected household net worth. For low-sales farm households, about half of household assets consist of farm assets, not including dwellings. Dwellings and financial assets (retirement and nonretirement) compose another 30 percent. As expected, given the greater importance of farm income, households associated with larger farms have a greater share of their assets (79 percent) in farm assets. Even though high-sales farm households have more than double the net worth of low-sales farm households, those with low sales have, on average, about $7,000 more in financial assets like stocks. This chart comes from Agricultural Income and Finance Outlook, AIS-90, December 2010.
Monday, April 11, 2011
In 2009, about 30 percent of principal farm operators were age 65 or older. The average age of farm operators was 57 in the 2007 Census of Agriculture, and has been greater than 50 since at least the 1950 Census. The age structure of U.S. households in general is much younger. One reason for the advanced age structure of farmers is the farm's status as the family home. More than 20 percent of farm operators report they are retired. Senior farmers adjust to farming in a variety of ways, such as operating their farms at a smaller scale or participating in the Conservation Reserve Program. This chart is from the Farm Household Economics and Well-Being briefing room, November 2010.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Since the 1980s, ERS has reported an income measure for farm operator households comparable to the U.S. Census Bureau's measure for all U.S. households. Farm household income is highly variable through the years, primarily due to the volatility of farm income. Nonetheless, for every year since 1996, average income of farm households has exceeded average U.S. household income. In fact, the off-farm income component (of average farm operator household income) alone has exceeded average U.S. household income from all sources since 1998. This figure is from the Farm Household Economics and Well-Being briefing room, February 2011.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
In 2009, earnings from farming constituted an estimated 9 percent of the average income of farm operator households. Two-thirds of income-and more than 70 percent of off-farm income-is considered earned off-farm income. Most earned off-farm income is from wages and salary jobs and the rest from nonfarm businesses, but this varies by size of farm. Retirement and other transfer income makes up about 16 percent of farm household income, with most coming from public sources. Other important sources of income include interest and dividend income. This figure was originally published in the Farm Household Economics and Well-Being: Farm Household Income briefing room.