• Topics: Food and Resource Economics | Clouser, Rodney L | 2007 Agricultural Census Tidbits series

2007 Agricultural Census Tidbit: Florida Farm Acreage Down¹

Introduction

The 2007 agricultural census data were reported for states and counties throughout the United States in February 2009. National, state, and local policy makers look forward to the census report for several reasons: they use the information to show the importance and size of the industry in their state and counties, and to show the importance of the industry in the state and local economy; and they use the information to make policy decisions. One of the limitations of the agricultural census is that the report, for the most part, is just data with limited or no discussion. This publication is one in a series of five that reorganizes some of the data collected in the census and offers some comments on trends and gaps in the data. The other publications in the 2007 Agricultural Census Tidbit series can be accessed online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

Many Floridians, including those not directly involved in farm production, keep a close watch on the numbers of acres used by farm producers in the state. The interest in this topic is varied. Floridians who are not farmers may be concerned that too much farmland loss is occurring because of Florida's rapid population growth. Agricultural producers' interest in the topic is more frequently centered on the impacts of disease, weather, prices, etc. and the difficulty in sustaining farm operations. The bottom line is that the census does not identify why land in farm operations increases and decreases. Rather, the census simply reports a snapshot of land used in agriculture every five years.

Census of Agriculture

The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years and is an attempt by the U.S. government to collect data on the entire U.S farm population in every state. Of course, not all agricultural producers provide the information requested and there is always the possibility for error in the data reported. A farm is defined as a place in which $1,000 of agricultural products were produced or sold, or typically would have been sold during the census year, including any government payments.

Farmland Use

Land in farms in the U.S. for 2002 and 2007 is reported in Table 1 and the states are ranked by the amount of land reported in the 2007 Census of Agriculture. In the United States in 2007, there were slightly more than 922 million acres of land used in farm production, which is down from just over 938 million acres reported in 2002. Texas reports by far the most land devoted to farms, with over 130 million acres. It has more than double the farmland of the next closest state (Montana).

Florida ranked 30th in the amount of land used for farms (9.2 million acres) as reported by the 2007 census. While the census numbers for land in farms for Florida are comparable with those for other states in 2007, the numbers reported for Florida are somewhat misleading. The amount of land in farms does not include landholdings of large timber corporations in the state. If these numbers were captured by the census, many more million acres would be included in the Florida total. This would also be true in other states with vast timber landholdings by major corporations.

Table 2 reports land in farms by state for 2002 and 2007, as ranked by change in land in farms between the 2002 and 2007 census. Nationally, the amount of land in farms between the two census periods declined over 16 million acres, or about 1.7 percent. In total, 35 states reported less land in farms in 2007 than they reported in 2002.

Nationally, Florida reported the third largest decline of land in farms (11.4%) in the United States between the 2002 and 2007 census. As mentioned previously, the census does not identify why land in farm operations increases or decreases, and it does not reveal the reason for the decline in Florida. It would not been unreasonable to assume that many factors, such as the hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, citrus canker and greening, declining commodity prices, increasing energy prices, and development, contributed to the decline in acreage reported in farms.

Some other factors related to farmland are notable from the census. Of the 15 largest states in terms of sales (Table 3), 14 of the states reported less land in farms in 2007 than in 2002. Only Texas reported more land in farms in 2007 and the increase reported was less than one-half percent. Florida's average farm size is on the low side for a large farm sales state, at 195 acres per farm in 2007. Of the leading agricultural sales states, all but one (Nebraska) reported average farm sizes lower in 2007 than in 2002.

Florida's decrease in size between the 2002 census (236 acres) and the 2007 census (195 acres) was not only the result of decreasing land in farms, but also due to the fact that the numbers of farm operators in the state increased from 44,081 in 2002 to 47,463 in 2007.

Summary

The amount of land in farms has decreased nationally by about 1.7 percent between 2002 and 2007. The rate of decrease in Florida was much larger (11.4%), giving the state the third highest percentage decline between the 2002 census and the 2007 census. Based on the 2007 census, Florida is ranked 30th nationally in the amount of land in farms. Like most other states with large agricultural sales, Florida's average farm size and the amount of land in farms declined between 2002 and 2007.

The census offers no explanation of the increases or decreases in the amount of land reported in farms. Likewise, census data do not address the quality of land that is no longer used in production. It is important to keep a watch on land in farms reported by the census. However, a census report of decreased land in farms is not in itself cause for concern. The land base in Florida agriculture is just one item of many that must be monitored over time in order to accurately assess the health of the industry in the state.

References

USDA/NASS. 2007. 2007 Census of Agriculture, United States Summary and State Data, Volume 1, Geographic Area Series, Part 51. United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Washington, D.C.

Tables

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.

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