Farming: A statistical snapshot
8/1/2003 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #390. By United Methodist News Service Key statistics reflect the changing nature of farming in the United States.
· The number of U.S. farms has decreased from 2.7 million in 1969 to 1.9 million in 1997. ·
In 1920, the United States had more than 925,000 black-operated farms.
Today, it has fewer than 18,500. The current rate of agricultural loss
by black farmers is more than twice that of other American farmers. · Nearly half of all farmers are over age 55, while just 8 percent are under 35. ·
The farmer's share of each food dollar has dropped steadily over the
last 40 years, from 41 cents in 1950 to only 20 cents in 1999. · In 1998, farmers earned an average of only $7,000 per year from their farming operations. · Large farms receive nearly twice as much in government payments as do small farms. ·
Two percent of U.S. farms account for half of the nation's agricultural
product sales, a reflection of corporate consolidation in farming.
Sources:
U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics
Service (1997 figures); U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Farm Aid Web
site (www.farmaid.org).
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