1

Understanding the Numbers

* = statistically signifi cant change

The 2012 Census of Agriculture 

contains a measure of relative 

reliability (the coeffi cient of variation) 

for every data item published. This 

Highlights document does not include 

these numbers, but shows through 

an asterisk (*) every number that is 

a statistically signifi cant change from 

the 2007 Census to the 2012 Census 

(defi ned as two or more standard 

errors).

To learn more about statistical 

signifi cance and census methodology, 

go to the frequently asked questions at 

www.agcensus.usda.gov.

Farms and Farmland 

Numbers, Acreage, Ownership, and Use

United States Department of Agriculture

National Agricultural Statistics Service

www.agcensus.usda.gov

(800)727-9540

Highlights

In 2012, just over 40 percent of all U.S. land was farmland. The amount of 

land in farms essentially held steady between 2007, when the last agriculture 

census was conducted, and 2012. In that same fi ve-year period, however, the 

number of farms 

in the United 

States declined, 

and average farm 

size increased. 

Farmland 

continued to be 

most heavily 

concentrated in 

the center of the 

country. (Fig. 1)

Highlights

Two  fths of all land. . . 

. . . in the United States is 

farmland. 915 million acres. 2.1 

million farms and ranches.

Farms and Land

The United 

States had 2.1 

million farms 

in 2012. This 

was 4 percent 

fewer than in 

2007, continuing 

a long-term 

decline in the 

number of 

farms. (Fig. 2) 

During the same 

time, the amount 

of land in farms 

Fig. 1

U.S. Farmland as Percent of Land Area, by County, 2012

percent

< 10

10 - 29

30 - 49

50 - 69

70 - 89

90 +

U.S. = 40.5%

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Fig. 2

Number of U.S. Farms, 1982 - 2012 

(millions)

2.11

2012

2.20

2007

2.13

2002

2.22

1997

2.18

1992

2.34

1987

2.48

1982

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture and earlier census data.

ACH12-13/September 2014
2 Farm and Farmland

Land Use

Of the 915 million acres of land in farms in 2012, 45.4 percent was permanent pasture, 42.6 percent was cropland, 

and 8.4 percent was woodland. The remaining 3.6 percent was land in farmsteads, buildings, livestock facilities, 

etc. Although the amount of cropland overall was down 4 

percent,the amount of cropland harvested was nearly 2 

percent more in 2012 than 2007. (Table 2)

 

Table 2

Farmland by Use, 2007 and 2012

2007 2012 % 

(millions of acres) change

Total 922.1 914.5 -0.8*

Permanent pasture 408.8 415.3 +1.6*

Cropland

 of which harvested

406.4 389.7 -4.1*

309.6 315.0 +1.7*

Woodland 75.1 77.0 +2.5*

Other land 31.7 32.5 +2.4*

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

For the first time, corn grown for grain and soybeans together accounted for more than 50 percent of all cropland 

harvested (163.5 million acres). Of the principal crops harvested, soybeans (up 19 percent) and corn for silage (up 

20 percent) had the largest percentage increases in acres 

from 2007 to 2012. Corn for grain and land in orchards also 

increased, while fewer acres were devoted to other crops 

such as forage, cotton, and vegetables. (Table 3) 

Table 3

Principal Crops Harvested, 2007 and 2012

(millions of acres)

2007 2012 %

change

Corn for grain 86.2 87.4 +1*

Soybeans 63.9 76.1 +19*

Forage 61.5 55.8 -9*

Winter wheat 35.8 34.7 -3*

Spring wheat 13.0 12.2 -6*

Cotton 10.5 9.4 -11*

Corn for silage 6.0 7.2 +20*

Orchard crops 5.0 5.2 +3*

Sorghum for grain 6.8 5.1 -24*

Vegetables 4.7 4.5 -4*

Barley 3.5 3.3 -7*

Rice 2.8 2.7 -2*

Durum wheat 2.1 2.1 0*

Sunflower seed 2.0 1.9 -6*

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Farmland

Farms

changed little, declining from 922 million acres in 2007 to 

915 million acres in 2012 (or 40.8 percent of U.S. land to 

40.5 percent). The average size of U.S. farms in 2012 was 

434 acres, 4 percent larger than five years earlier. (Table 1) 

Median farm size (that is, the point at which half the farms 

are larger and half are smaller) remained unchanged, at 80 

acres. 

Table 1

U.S. Farms and Farmland, 2007 and 2012

2007 2012 % 

change

Number of farms 2,204,792 2,109,303 -4.3*

Farmland (acres) 922,095,840 914,527,657 -0.8*

Average farm size (acres) 418 434 +3.8*

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Between 2007 and 2012, the number of farms decreased 

in all size categories except the largest. Just over two 

thirds of farms had fewer than 180 acres in 2012, but the 4 

percent of farms with 2,000 or more acres made up more 

than half (55 percent) of all farmland. (Fig. 3) Farm size 

varied by state; the average size of farms and ranches in 

the West was larger than for the United States overall. 

Fig. 3

Share of Farms and Farmland, by Farm Size, 2012

(as percent of total)

11%

0%

28%

2%

30%

7%

16%

11%

7%

11%

4%

14%

4%

55%

1 to 9 acres

10 to 49 acres

50 to 179 acres

180 to 499 acres

500 to 999 acres

1,000 to 1,999 acres

2,000 acres or more

Farm Size

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.
2012 Census of Agriculture 3

It is also useful to look at changes in the number of farms 

by the commodities they specialize in. The number of farms 

specializing in horses, corn, soybeans, sheep and goats, 

vegetables, and wheat all increased. Poultry and egg farms 

and hog and pig farms showed the sharpest declines in 

number of farms. Beef cattle farming and ranching is the 

largest farm sector in value of sales and number of farms; 

more than 600,000 farms received most of their income 

in 2012 from producing cattle and calves. But the number 

of such operations declined 6 percent between 2007 and 

2012. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4

Farms by Commodity Specialization, Selected Commodities, 2007 and 2012 

(thousands of farms)

31.1

13.7 Cattle feedlots*

30.5

21.7 Hogs*

35.2

38.5 Wheat*

40.6

43.0 Vegetables

57.3

Dairy cattle 46.0

and milk*

64.6

Poultry and 52.8

eggs*

54.9

Greenhouse 52.8

and nursery

67.3

73.3 Sheep and

goats

62.9

89.9 Soybeans*

98.3

Fruits and 93.0

tree nuts

161.9

167.0 Corn

168.7

172.0 Horses

254.0

252.4 Hay

656.5

619.2 Beef cattle*

2012

2007

“Commodity specialization” means more than half of a farm’s sales came from that commodity.

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Land Ownership

The principal farm operator is the person making the dayto-day decisions for the farm or ranch operation, whether 

the person owns or rents the land they operate. Operators 

can be full owners (own all the land they farm), part owners (rent some farmland but own some as well), or tenants 

(rent all the land they farm). Only 25 percent of principal 

operators were part owners of their farms in 2012, but they 

controlled more than 50 percent of all farmland. Theirs 

were the largest farms, in terms of both acres operated and 

the value of agriculture sales. (Table 4)

Table 4

Farm Ownership, 2012

(principal operator) 

% of 

Farms

% of 

Farmland

Average Size

(acres) (dollars)

Full owners 67.7 36.8 235 $98,984

Part owners 25.3 53.7 922 $393,577

Tenants 7.0 9.5 588 $293,858

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Nearly 40 percent of all farmland was rented/leased, but 

the proportion varied across the country. The Mississippi 

Delta region and the corn and soybean growing areas of 

the Midwest are among the places with high percentages 

of rented land. (Fig. 5). The states with the largest proportion of farmland rented from others are Alaska (76 percent), 

Illinois (60 percent), Delaware (53.5 percent), Indiana (53.4 

percent), and Iowa (53.0). 

Fig. 5

Percent of U.S. Farmland Rented or Leased, by County, 2012

percent

< 20

20 - 29

30 - 39

40 - 49

50 - 59

60 +

U.S. = 38.8%

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.
4 USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Snapshot of Farms and Land across the States 

U.S. = 53.8 %

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The decline in farms and farmland from 2007 to 2012 

was not uniform across the country. The number of farms 

actually increased in sixteen states, and the amount of 

farmland increased in nineteen. The decrease in number of 

farms is particularly evident in the Southeast and Midwest. 

The modest decline in farmland is spread fairly evenly 

across the country.

Top Ten States 

. . . number of farms . . . acres of farmland

Texas Texas 

Missouri Montana

Iowa Kansas

Oklahoma Nebraska 

California South Dakota

Kentucky New Mexico

Ohio North Dakota

Illinois Oklahoma

Minnesota Colorado

Wisconsin Iowa

Irrigated Farmland 

In 2012, U.S. farmers irrigated 56 million acres, or 6 

percent of all farmland. All states have some irrigated 

farmland, but irrigation is concentrated geographically and 

by crop. About 80 percent of all land in orchards, berries, 

and vegetables is irrigated. Other crops with more than 25 

percent of total acres irrigated in 2012 include rice (100 

percent), cotton (41 percent), alfalfa hay (35 percent), 

peanuts (32 percent), sugar beets (32 percent), dry edible 

beans (29 percent), and barley (26 percent).

Irrigated Acres as Percent of Farmland, by County, 2012 

percent

< 1

1 - 4

5 - 9

10 - 24

25 - 39

40 +

U.S. = 6.1%

Farms Producing Energy

In 2012, more than 57,000 farms produced renewable 

energy for either the farm’s direct use or for sale to others, 

more than double the number that did so in 2007. The most 

widely used systems were solar panels (36,331 farms), followed by geoexchange systems, wind turbines, biodiesel, 

and ethanol. Another 10,000 farms leased the wind rights 

on the land to others for energy production. The top states 

in farms producing renewable energy in 2012 were:

Number of Energy Farms Energy Farms as % of Farms

California 5,845 Hawaii 18%

Texas 4,824 Alaska 9%

Illinois 3,046 Vermont 9%

Iowa 2,463 California 8%

Indiana 2,397 Wyoming 7%

About the Census of Agriculture

The Census of Agriculture is the leading source of facts and 

figures about American agriculture. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts the census once every 

five years, and conducted the 2012 Census of Agriculture in 

early 2013 based on 2012 end-of-year data.

The 2012 Census results are now available, providing information at national, state, and county levels about what agricultural 

products were raised in the United States in 2012, where, how, 

and by whom. 

Census data are available in multiple formats to help all users, 

professional and casual, find and use exactly what they need. 

Available tools include:

• Quick Stats 2.0 – an online database to retrieve 

customized tables

• A new tutorial video – easy-to-follow instructions for 

Quick Stats

• An API for developers – In Quick Stats 2.0, click the 

“Developers” tab

• Desktop Data Query Tool – a downloadable desk

top tool to analyze data without Internet access

• Agricultural Atlas – pattern and dot maps profiling many 

aspects of agriculture at the county level

• Infographics – fun, informative snippets of 

Census data and context

• Highlights – more documents like this one 

summarizing key facts on a topic

A link to census data is also available on USDA’s open data 

portal, www.usda.gov/data.

www.agcensus.usda.gov