Large Family Farms Dominate U.S. Agricultural Production
Sometimes the media give the impression that US agriculture, and particularly the farming segment, is run by large corporate interests. The fact is that the US farming system is dominated by family farms as per this data from the USDA ERS. It found that family farms accounted for 99% of all US farms and for 89% of all production in 2015. Check out this chart and some of the details below:
Farms are categorized by their annual gross cash farm income (GCFI) as follows:
Small farms – under $350,000 GFCI
Midsize farms – between $350,000 and $999,999 GFCI
Large-scale farms – $1 Million and greater GFCI
Only 1.3% of the farms in 2015 were considered non-family. The small family farm made up the bulk of operators however they account for 24% of production. While only 2.9% of U.S. farms were large-scale family farms these farms contributed 42% of total production. So family farms – and specifically large-scale family farms – dominate U.S. agricultural production.