The main headline from last month’s release of the USDA’s Census of Agriculture was the 7% decline in the total number of American farms between 2017 and 2022.
However, a deeper analysis by American Farm Bureau economist Daniel Munch includes another sobering fact: Acres operated by farm operations during the same timeframe declined by 20.1 million or 2.2%, a loss equivalent to an area about the size of Maine.
As the map below shows, Colorado led in terms of numerical decline, with 1.6 million fewer acres being farmed in 2022 compared to 2017, followed by Texas with a drop of more than 1.5 million acres, and Oklahoma with a fall of 1.26 million. Only three states - Alabama, Alaska and Rhode Island - had increases in operated area.
By percent decline, the map of operated acreage (also shown below) looks quite different. Hawaii leads with a loss of 7.2% of operated area followed by Virginia and Maine both experiencing a loss of 6.3% and Washington experiencing a loss of 5.6% between 2017 and 2022.
Even minor declines in farmed area can have a significant impact on the rural identity of states with smaller acreage and higher rates of commercial and residential development, Munch said.
“The more land shifted out of agriculture production, the harder it is to return those acres to farming.”
Diminished production capacity within specific states and regions also heightens dependence on purchases from other states or countries, Munch said. For instance, Hawaii faces a unique situation with only enough production and food storage capacity to sustain itself for seven days, exacerbated by a 7% loss in actively farmed land over the past five years. In New England, on a weight basis, farmers produce only about 21% as much food as the states consume (with a portion of that going to outside buyers).
Researchers have estimated that in order to reach 30% self-food-sufficiency, the six New England states would have to maximize the use of 401,000 existing underutilized acres and clear an additional 588,000 acres of land. Instead, acres operated in New England dropped by 145,000 between 2017 and 2022.
Local regulatory dynamics, land use pressures and costs, and variations in cultural interests contribute to the shifting landscape of farming, often pushing it farther away from population centres, Munch said.
Munch’s full analysis can be seen here:
https://www.fb.org/market-intel/over-140-000-farms-lost-in-5-years
