Female Farm Operators Increase
Published: Friday, April 26, 2019
After much anticipation, U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released the results of the 2017 Census of Agriculture last week. The Census, which is taken every five years, is the most complete set of data for American agriculture, providing an abundance of information about land use, farm ownership and decisionmaking, demographics, production practices, income and expenditures.
This is the first census that allowed operations to list more than one principal operator, thus offering a more accurate picture of the role of women and young farmers, who in previous years were often listed as secondary operators regardless of their level of involvement. As a result, the number of women producers jumped almost 27 percent, with more than half of farms listing at least one woman as a decision maker.
Though the number of beginning farmers grew as well, to 27 percent of total farmers, they are still overwhelmingly outnumbered by older producers. For every producer younger than 35, there are more than six farmers older than 65. This alarming trend has pushed the average age of farmers up to 57.5 years old. If older farmers retire at a faster rate than new farmers join the industry, it will put significant strain on the agricultural system as a whole.
The census points to some other troubling changes in farm-level consolidation and the farm economy. For one, the overall number of farms and ranches dropped by 3 percent, to just over 2 million, and total acres cultivated fell by 1.6 percent, to 900 million. Additionally, while the number of large- and small-sized farms grew between 2012 and 2017, the middle-sized farms fell. Unsurprisingly, as farms consolidated, so did farm production; just over 5 percent of farms accounted for 75 percent of all sales. That doesn't mean farmers are making more money. To the contrary, 56.4 percent of operations lost money in 2017.
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson expressed concern about some of these shifts. "We've got older farmers, fewer farms and fewer farm families on the land," he said in a statement. "None of that is positive for American agriculture or our rural communities."
However, there were some more promising data points; for one, many farmers are in engaged in on-farm energy production. Since the last census was taken in 2012, the number of farms and ranches with renewable energy production systems, including solar panels, methane digesters and wind turbines, grew by more than 100 percent. Direct marketing and value-added sales are on the rise as well, at a market value of $9.03 billion and $4.04 billion, respectively.
Though not all the results are encouraging, Johnson stressed the importance of the Ag Census in data-driven policy making.
"The ag census is important to federal, state and local policymakers, as well as farmers and ranchers. The data will inform farm policy, rural policy, and long-term decisions made over the next five years," said Johnson. "We're grateful to the farm and ranch families who put in the time to fill out the 2017 Census of Agriculture, thereby giving a voice to their operations and their communities."
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