stimulate this
Now this is interesting. According to the new Ag Census just released by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), there are more farms in the US than there were five years ago…
The 2007 Census counted 2,204,792 farms in the United States, a net increase of 75,810 farms. Nearly 300,000 new farms have begun operation since the last census in 2002. Compared to all farms nationwide, these new farms tend to have more diversified production, fewer acres, lower sales and younger operators who also work off-farm.
The increase in farm numbers comes from small and large farms, but smaller farms are increasing at a faster rate than larger farms…
Between 2002 and 2007, the number of farms with sales of less than $2,500 increased by 74,000. The number of farms with sales of more than $500,000 grew by 46,000 during the same period.
All this is evidence that local food (and organic) is continuing to increase in popularity and farmers are responding to serve that market…
In addition to looking at farm numbers, operator demographics and economic aspects of farming, the Census of Agriculture delves into numerous other areas, including organic, value-added, and specialty production, all of which are on the rise. [italics added]
Let’s follow this up with some real research and Extension dollars targeting small-scale, local, organic farms. They could use some stimulous too!
