Operators of 42, farms were non-white or Hispanic, representing about 3 percent of farms with livestock or livestock sales. About 57 percent of these farms were rural-residence farms , 38 percent were intermediate farms , and 5 percent were commercial farms. Although the information in the Census of Agriculture is not adequate to identify a farm as a CAFO, potential CAFOs can be estimated based on the livestock type and the estimated number of animals on the farm.
EPA defines these thresholds in terms of "animal units" that are based on head counts, which vary by livestock type. Results of the modeling indicate there were 11, potential CAFOs at the 1, EPA animal unit threshold, representing about 5 percent of all farms with confined livestock types. Nearly all potential CAFOs in all four groups were commercial farms. At the most inclusive threshold EPA animal units-about 94 percent of potential CAFOs were commercial farms , 4 percent were intermediate farms , and 1 percent were rural-residence farms.
Information on the number and kind of farms with livestock is essential to establish a context for national and local policies directed toward livestock operations, such as the U. Department of Agriculture's USDA efforts to implement comprehensive programs to assist livestock producers with manure and wastewater management and use. Policymakers need to know how many livestock producers there are and how many need assistance or may be regulated to make informed decisions on the programs and regulations pertaining to the livestock industry.
Program managers and decision-makers need this same information to determine program funding levels and to establish rules that define which farms receive assistance or which farms are regulated. The Census of Agriculture shows that there were 1,, farms in the United States in that had some kind of livestock on the farm or had sales from livestock products, representing about 2 of every 3 farms in the country. The purpose of this paper is to identify the predominant types of livestock farms in the United States, and to summarize the number and kind of livestock and the amount of livestock sales associated with each farm type.
Farms with livestock were categorized in two ways: 1 farm group according to the number and kind of livestock on the farm, and 2 farm type according to characteristics of the operation and total agricultural sales. The Census of Agriculture reports end-of-year inventories and sometimes the number of animals sold during the year for the following livestock types:. The average number of cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys on the farm during the year was estimated from sales and end-of-year inventory according to procedures described in Kellogg, Lander, Moffit and Gollehon.
For the other livestock types, end-of-year inventories were used to represent livestock populations on the farm. Using this information on livestock types and number on each farm, farms with livestock were uniquely categorized into the following four groups:. Farms with few livestock were defined to be farms with less than :. Farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock were defined to be farms with:. Farms that met criteria for veal farms or confined heifer farms were excluded from this group and counted as farms with confined livestock types below.
The dominant livestock type on each farm was defined as the livestock type with the most animal units. Farms with confined livestock types also may have significant populations of pastured livestock types, which were sometimes the dominant animal type on the farm. If more than 35 animal units of any fattened cattle, milk cows, swine, chickens, or turkeys were present on the farm, they were used to define the dominant livestock type, even if cattle excluding milk cows and fattened cattle were the most abundant livestock type on the farm.
Included in this group were a small number of farms 2, farms that should be classified as farms with confined livestock types , but did not meet the criteria above. These three special cases were:. Farms that met criteria for special cases but had more than 4 animal units of fattened cattle, milk cows, swine, chickens, or turkeys were classified according to the dominant confined livestock type, and were thus not categorized as a "special case farm.
Four size classes were also defined for farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock and for farms with confined livestock types. For farms with confined livestock types , large farms were defined to be farms with more than animal units of any of the 5 confined livestock types fattened cattle, milk cows, swine, chickens, or turkeys.
For farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock , roughly equivalent criteria were used to define large farms: 1 more than horses, ponies, mules, burros, and donkeys, or 2 more than beef cattle animal units, or 3 more than sheep and goats. The animal unit threshold for large farms was selected so that all farms with 1, or more "EPA animal units" would be included in the category of "large farms.
Small farms were defined to be farms with one-half or more of the minimum number of livestock as on medium-size farms e. The remaining farms were categorized as very small farms.
The upper limit of the very-small farm size class animal units--corresponds to annual sales of about fattened cattle, or dairies with 25 milk cows, or a typical broiler house 25, bird capacity operated at two-thirds capacity.
Most of the farms in the very small farm size class are much smaller than the upper limit, ranging to farms as small as 4 animal units of the 5 confined livestock types combined. The Census of Agriculture has most, but not all, of the information needed to apply the farm typology criteria. The Census of Agriculture asks respondents to report gross sales of all agricultural products and to indicate whether the operation is: 1 family or individually operated, 2 operated as a partnership including family partnerships , 3 operated as a corporation and whether or not it is a family-held corporation, and 4 other, such as estate or trust, prison farm, grazing association, Indian reservation, etc.
A slightly modified version of the ERS farm typology was applied to farms with livestock in the Census of Agriculture using the following criteria:. Of the 1,, farms with livestock, , 49 percent were rural-residence farms , , 42 percent were intermediate farms , and , 9 percent were commercial farms table 1 , figure 1. The majority of farms with livestock were farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock 54 percent , 27 percent were farms with few livestock , 18 percent were farms with confined livestock types , and 0.
Most commercial farms were farms with confined livestock types 62 percent , whereas most intermediate farms were farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock 58 percent and most rural residence farms were either farms with few livestock 40 percent or farms with pastured livestock types and few other livestock 54 percent table 1 , figure 3 , figure 4 , figure 5.
The distribution by state of the four farm groups is shown in table 2 , and the distribution by state of the three farm types is shown in table 3. Most 71 percent of the , farms with few livestock were rural-residence farms , farms table 4.
A significant number, farms-were intermediate farms 27 percent , and a small number 6, farms were commercial farms. Farms with the largest total agricultural sales were almost exclusively farms that primarily produced crops, whereas farms that primarily produced livestock had low sales table 4. Even on the farms that also had confined livestock types, most of the livestock were pastured livestock types.
The total number of livestock on all farms with few livestock is almost negligible when compared to the number of livestock on other farms table 5. These , farms accounted for only 1 percent of cattle all types , swine, turkey, and chicken animal units on all farms and 3. Horses are the exception. About one-fourth of all the horses, ponies, mules, burros, and donkeys were on farms with few livestock even though the maximum number on any farm was less than On average, farms with few livestock have about 2.
Since then, the number of U. In the most recent survey, there were 2. With million acres of land in farms in , the average farm size was acres, only slightly greater than the acres recorded in the early s.
Technological developments in agriculture have been influential in driving changes in the farm sector. Innovations in animal and crop genetics, chemicals, equipment, and farm organization have enabled continuing output growth without adding much to inputs. As a result, even as the amount of land and labor used in farming declined, total farm output nearly tripled between and Gross cash farm income GCFI is annual income before expenses and includes cash receipts, farm-related income, and Government farm program payments.
If forecasts are realized, GCFI would increase 7. Urban farms usually grow crops, but they can also involve urban beekeeping , aquaculture and other types of farming. Vineyards are farms that grow grapes, which are grown on vines that are supported on posts and wires known as trellises.
Grapes grown in vineyards are most commonly known to be harvested for wine, though some are grown for sale or to make raisins. A vineyard may also have a licensed winery on-site for wine production, sale and tastings to attract agritourism. Vineyards are generally situated large estates, where careful planning and design is required to prevent pests and manage disease.
The study of vineyards is called viticulture. The geographical and geological characteristics of a vineyard contribute to the taste and quality of the grapes produced and, subsequently, the flavor of the wine. Sam Schipani loves pollinators, fresh herbs, and learning how to live more sustainably in small spaces. I tried to make beeswax food wraps. Sustainable farming practices explained.
How to choose gardening gloves. These are the must-have gardening tools for first-time gardeners. Leave A Reply Cancel reply. Sign me up for the newsletter! Home Uncategorized A guide to types of farms. By Sam Schipani Last updated Sep 12, Sam Schipani. Prev post I tried to make beeswax food wraps.
Next post Sustainable farming practices explained. You might also like More from author. Prev Next. Leave A Reply. Sign in. Welcome, please log into your account. Forget password? Remember me. Sign in Recover your password. A password will be emailed to you. Global food production has increased 30 percent over the last decade, according to John Newton, the chief economist of the American Farm Bureau.
After the United States slapped tariffs on Chinese goods including steel and aluminum last year, China retaliated with 25 percent tariffs on agricultural imports from the U. China then turned to other countries such as Brazil to replace American soybeans and corn. Smaller farms have found it especially hard to adapt to these changes, which they blame on government policy and a lack of antitrust enforcement. The government is on the side of big farms, they say, and is ambivalent about whether small farms can succeed.
The number of farms with more than 2, acres nearly doubled between and , according to USDA data. The number of farms with to acres fell over that time period by 44 percent. Many small American farmers are routinely selling their crops for less than it costs to produce them.
Prices are so low that farmers like the Rieckmanns are trying to figure out other ways to come up with the money to keep their farm going. But like many other rural areas around the country, their town of Fremont does not have a bustling economy. Both a Kmart and another department store, Shopko, closed in Waupaca county this year, costing dozens of workers their jobs. Mary Rieckmann who will turn 80 in January, got a job delivering newspapers; the family also launched a GoFundMe account.
But after Mary crashed her car on a foggy night, her husband and sons convinced her to abandon her paper route. Heavy rain and unseasonable snow this year have also hurt many Midwestern farmers. Portions of Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota experienced record flooding this year, with the upper Mississippi River receiving percent more rain and snow than normal. Unusual rain and snow prevented farmers from planting on 19 million acres this year, the most since the USDA began measuring in Last year, by contrast, weather prevented planting on just 2 million acres.
One farmer called Rosmann to say he was considering suicide — floods destroyed the corn he had already harvested and stored in a grain elevator, but neither crop insurance nor flood insurance would cover it, since he had already harvested the crop. John Hanson, who runs an assistance hotline in Nebraska, says that this year he has gotten calls at midnight from desperate farmers, including one sitting in his kitchen with a loaded shotgun and the lights out. Rural America has been shrinking for decades, and the Great Recession accelerated that contraction as rural manufacturing jobs disappeared and people moved to cities and suburbs seeking work.
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