NASHVILLE, TENN. (RFD NEWS) — Right now, economists are crunching the numbers and preparing to deliver an analytical summary of the latest Ag Census, with a close look at trends in farm consolidation.
Jim MacDonald says one of the biggest long-term changes in U.S. agriculture has been the shift toward fewer, but much larger, farming operations since the last census completed in 2022.
“Consolidation for almost all crops has taken the form of shifts towards fewer but much larger farms,” MacDonald said. “We’re able to get consistent data over a fairly long period of time to track that across states, counties, and across commodities. I had also been involved in running an annual large-scale farm survey for the Economic Research Service when I was there. That is drawn from the five-year Census of Agriculture.”
MacDonald says the way economists define a “large farm” has also changed over time as operations have expanded. He noted that in 1987, a 2,000-acre operation was considered a large farm, but that benchmark no longer reflects the size of many modern farming operations.
The next Census of Agriculture is expected to be released at the end of the year and will provide a deeper look at farm consolidation trends across U.S. agriculture.
