Stay Informed

Farmers are surveyed all the time for all sorts of reasons. But in terms of its influence, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture is probably the most important data-gathering operation that farmers are asked to participate in.

The results of the latest ag census, taken in 2022, have now been released, and many of those results are noteworthy, said Todd Davis, Indiana Farm Bureau chief economist.

“What makes the census unique is that it’s a very thorough snapshot taken every five years,” Dr. Davis said. This allows the National Agricultural Statistics Service and its state affiliates to compile very detailed information on each county and state as well as the nation. This is part of what makes it so influential, he added.     

An indication of the census’ importance to policymakers is that the data also is organized by congressional district, Dr. Davis noted.

“As farmers and county Farm Bureaus talk with officials not involved in agriculture about production practices, crops and conservation practices, they can back up what they say with the statistics,” he said.

Among the statistics that Dr. Davis found most compelling were those involving number of farms. As has been the case for decades, the number of farms (both nationally and at the state level) has decreased.

The figures for 2022 in Indiana are 53,599 farms encompassing 14.6 million acres. This compares to 2017’s totals of 56,649 farms and 15 million acres.

But when the age of operators is taken into consideration, the census shows that one of the growth areas is younger farmers. The census shows that the number of farmers under age 44 has increased, rising from 23,864 in 2017 to 25,685 in 2022.

Reflecting another decades-long pattern, the average farm size has increased from 264 acres in 2017 to 272 acres in 2022. The reason these figures sound so low to the average Indiana farmer, Dr. Davis said, is that the USDA counts any operation with more than $1,000 in ag sales as a farm.

One of INFB’s priority issues is land use, which makes the loss in the number of farms and the number of acres of particular interest to Farm Bureau, he noted.

“The concern is still, we’re losing farms. Some of that’s natural, some is land-use issues,” Dr. Davis said. “But the good news is, we do apparently have young people interested in agriculture.”

Dr. Davis added that it’s important that farmers and county Farm Bureaus use this information when talking to officials at both the local and national levels, and it’s important that they do so fairly soon, while it’s still relatively current.

“It won’t carry as much weight three years from now, but now, the information is fresh,” he said.