Land occupied by California's farms and ranched has decreased substantially the last three decades. Total crop acreage has remained constant. The average size of California farms increased from 230 acres in 1940 to 493 acres in 1974. In the last two decades, the average size has declined to 368 acres. The average California farm is almost 100 acres smaller than the national average.
Corporate farms are a relatively modest part of California's agricultural picture.
Some 5.400 California farms are corporations, and 4,700 of those are family operations. Extracts from a research report by Harold O Carter, Director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center at UC Davis, and George Goldman, Economist, UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources, November 1992. The project was sponsored by the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This was originally available in brochure form, printed by the California Farm Bureau Federation. The information was updated in March 1996 by Robert Krauter, Assistant Manager of the Information Services Division of the California Farm Bureau Federation.