What Percentage of Farms and Ranches are Owned by Individuals and Corporations? (2024)

FAQs

What Percentage of Farms and Ranches are Owned by Individuals and Corporations? ›

In the United States, 97 percent of all farms and ranches are family owned. Those farms and ranches are owned by individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. Just 3 percent are non-family owned corporations. To this day, many farms and ranches are passed from generation to generation.

97 percent of all U.S. farms are family-owned, and family farms account for 90 percent of all farm production by value," Resnick said. "In addition, 88 percent of all farms are classified as small family farms." Resnick says the report underscores the financial conditions for U.S. farms.

98% of U.S. farms are family farms, and they account for 86% of farm production. Small family farms operate almost half of the farmland. The largest share of the value of farm production (44%), however, occurs on large-scale family farms. Farm households, in general, are neither low income nor low wealth.

Like many states, Utah farms are primarily owned and operated by families or individuals, with 13,722 family farms as of 2022, or about 79% of all farms in the state.

There are about 65,000 large farms in the US, and less than 2000 are organized as corporations.

Non-family corporate farms account for 1.36 percent of US farmland area. Family farms (including family corporate farms) account for 96.7 percent of US farms and 89 percent of US farmland area; a USDA study estimated that family farms accounted for 85 percent of US gross farm income in 2011.

China owns 384,000 acres of American agricultural land. That's a 30% increase just since 2019. And on top of that, they own land near an air force base in North Dakota.

After farmers, the next biggest group of investors is high net worth individuals, he said. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, owns about 420,000 acres of U.S. farmland, according to media reports. Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has nearly 270,000 acres.

The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres. The bulk of that land is dedicated to timber in Northern California. But the most headline-worthy transaction of 2022 was the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas.

Why are family farms going out of business? ›

Adapting to climate change and the rising threat of chemical contamination are challenges that speak to the extraordinarily high level of risk that farmers take on with very little public safety net or supports other than the help of other family members and friends, despite their service to the wider community.

The average farm size for 2021 is 445 acres, up from 444 acres the previous year. Average farm size increased in the $1,000,000 or more sales class and decreased or remained unchanged in all other sales classes.

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates there are roughly 40,000 Black farmers in America, owning less than one percent of our nation's farmland as compared to roughly 95 percent of farmland owned by their white counterparts.

As of 2022, 97% of farms are family farms accounting for 90% of total production – an 8.4% increase since 2021. That's according to the latest edition of America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance – an annual publication from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The top crops by value of sales are hay and other crops at over $275 million, nursery at over $135 million, and grains and oilseeds at more than $90 million. Cattle sales of about $380 million, milk at $355 million, and hogs around $230 million round out the top three livestock items by value of sales.

The federal government spends more than $30 billion a year on subsidies for farm businesses and agriculture. Congress is scheduled to reauthorize farm programs in 2023, which provides an opportunity to reassess farm policies and reduce taxpayer costs. The government supports nearly all aspects of farming.

Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population.

Acreage is another way to assess farm size. According to the USDA , small family farms average 231 acres; large family farms average 1,421 acres and the very large farm average acreage is 2,086. It may be surprising to note that small family farms make up 88 percent of the farms in America.

Most farm households (91 percent) have at least one family member working at an off-farm job.