The more than 2 million farms in the U.S. vary greatly in size of it and characteristic . For model , annual staring revenue can range from as footling as $ 1,000 to more than $ 5 million .
USDA ’s Economic Research Service ( ERS ) recently released its widely used annual news report that describes gadget characteristic of different types of U.S. farms , titledAmerica ’s Diverse Family Farms : 2019 Edition . farm are classify based on ownership of the farm , yearly gross taxation , and the primary occupation of the principal manipulator .
The research found that family farms remain a key part of U.S. farming , making up 98 % of all farms and providing 88 % of production . Most farms are small sept farms , and they manoeuvre almost half of U.S. farm country , while yield 21 % of yield . Midsize and prominent - musical scale family farms answer for for about 66 % of production ; and non - family farms play the remaining 2.1 % of farm and 12 % of output .
The specific commodities produced tend to vary by farm character . Small farms produce most U.S. poultry ( include eggs ) and hay . Midsize and big - scale farms account for most of the cotton , immediate payment grain , and oilseed production . big - plate farms grow the bulk of dairy farm . in the end , large - scale and non - family farms dominate yield of beef production and in high spirits value crops which include vegetable , fruits / tree nuts , and nursery / greenhouse products .
In world-wide , farm household are neither low - income nor low - wealth . Retirement family farm ( farm where the principal operator reports being retired from land ) and low - gross sales farms ( those with operators principally engaged in land and having less than $ 150,000 in revenue per twelvemonth ) are the only two farm type with medial income below the median income for all U.S. households and the medial income of home with ego - employment income . Overall , we see that median household income increases along with farm sales .
Many phratry farm menage combine farm and off - farm oeuvre to generate income and receive other benefits from an off - farm caper . Off - farm line farms are those where the principal wheeler dealer reputation doing something other than farming as their chief occupation . Over 80 % of these hustler work at an offsite location , as do 62 % of their spouse . Principal operator of enceinte - scale farms ( those with $ 1 million or more in sales per year ) are less likely to work off the farm compared to pocket-size and midsize farms . Where the better half of principal operators held an off - farm job , a majority cited “ wellness care benefit ” as one ground for work off the farm .
agriculture is still overwhelmingly comprised of home concern . While most U.S. farms are small , most agrarian production come about on bombastic - shell and midsize folk farms ( farms with more than $ 350,000 in annual utter tax income ) . America ’s Diverse Family Farms reputation reveals that families remain cardinal to our agrarian thriftiness .
Source : USDA ( Christine Whitt )
