Type of organization refers to the farm's form of business organization. Agricultural Resource Management Study data indicate that individual operations are the most common type of farm organization. Nine out of ten farms in the 1996 survey were classified as individual operations. Partnerships and corporations make up a very small share of farms. About 89 percent of farm corporations are family corporations, with more than 50 percent of the stock held by people related by blood or marriage.
Corporate farms have the highest average farm sales.
Land Tenure Land tenure describes the farm operator's ownership interest in the land farmed. Only 9 percent of operations reported that they rented all of their land. Part owners generally operate the largest farms, averaging 732 acres in 1996, followed by tenants with 636 acres and full owners with 227 acres per farm. The major uses of U.S. cropland include cropland harvested, summer fallow, land idled in Federal programs, and crop failure. Cropland harvested peaked in 1981 at about 351 million acres.