USDA Farms and Land in Farms Final Estimate

FARMS AND LAND IN FARMS FINAL ESTIMATES
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has published final estimates for Farms and Land in Farms, including revisions made by the Agricultural Statistics Board (ASB), for the years 2018 through 2022. Data included in these final publications provide a historic record and a benchmark for current estimates.

Revisions were made after a thorough review of the original survey data and all additional data now available, including the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The 2018-2022 farm and land in farm estimates are considered final and will not be revised again.

USDA’s definition of a farm is “any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year.” Government payments are included in sales. Ranches, institutional farms, experimental and research farms, and Indian Reservations are included as farms. Places with the entire acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and other government conservation programs are counted as farms. The definition of a farm was first established in 1850 and has changed nine times since. The current definition was first used for the 1974 Census.

Land in farms consists of agricultural land used for crops, pasture, or grazing. Also included is woodland and wasteland not actually under cultivation or used for pasture or grazing, provided it was part of the farm operator’s total operation. Land in farms includes acres in CRP, WRP, and other government conservation programs. Land in farms includes land owned and operated as well as land rented from others. Land used rent-free is included as land rented from others. All grazing land, except land used under government permits on a per-head basis, is included as land in farms provided it was part of a farm or ranch. Land under the exclusive use of a grazing association is reported by the grazing association and included as land in farms. All land in American Indian reservations used for growing crops or grazing livestock is included as land in farms. Land in reservations not reported by individual American Indians or non-Native Americans is reported in the name of the cooperative group that used the land. In many instances, the entire American Indian reservation is reported as one farm.

The estimates can be accessed using the QuickStats online database, found at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your USDA NASS State Statistician at 1-800-392-3202:

Arizona – Dave DeWalt
Colorado – Rodger Ott
Montana – Eric Sommer
New Mexico – Margie Whitcotton
Utah – John Hilton
Wyoming – Leslee Lohrenz