USDA | February 26, 2002
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is blaming a decline in the number of farms operating in the United States on adverse weather, lower commodity prices, and land competition.
The number of farms and ranches in the United States was down 0.7% in 2001 compared to 2000, with 2.16 million farms operating in 2001, according to a recently released USDA report.
This is the second largest decline in farms and ranches since the 1.4% drop in 1991. The North Central region's loss of farms was the largest, with a decline of 9,500 operations, 1.2% less than was estimated in 2000.
The West region lost 2,600 farms and ranches, 0.9% fewer than the previous year.
The number of farms and ranches declined 1,600 or 0.2% in the South region and 800 or 0.6% in the Northeast region. The number of farms and ranches during 2001 declined in 23 states, remained unchanged in 22 states, and increased in five states.
States losing 2,000 farms during the year were Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio.
Iowa farms declined by 1,500, while Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Washington lost 1,000 farms and ranches.
Of the five states showing increases in the number of farms and ranches, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas gained 1,000 operations during the year. Texas, which leads the nation in acres in farms and ranches with 130 million acres, remained unchanged from 2000.
Colorado's agricultural acreage dropped by 300,000 acres, and Montana's land in farms and ranches declined 200,000 acres during the year.
States losing 100,000 acres were: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, and Ohio.
Only Tennessee increased in farm and ranch acreage, gaining 100,000 acres.
Overall, farm and ranch acreage declined in 20 states, remained unchanged in 29 states, and increased in one state.USDA:
