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Farm Definition; What’s it Mean and Why is it Important?

Farm Definition; What’s it Mean and Why is it Important?. Michael Duffy Iowa State University AAEA Annual Meetings Orlando, FL 2008. Farm Definition. For Census of Agriculture;

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Farm Definition; What’s it Mean and Why is it Important?

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  1. Farm Definition; What’s it Mean and Why is it Important? Michael Duffy Iowa State University AAEA Annual Meetings Orlando, FL 2008

  2. Farm Definition • For Census of Agriculture; “a farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.” • This definition was first used for the 1974 Census

  3. 2002 Census • The 2002 Census continued this definition but there was expanded coverage • The goal of the expanded coverage was to capture the underreported farms, especially small farms. • NASS was very successful in meeting their goal

  4. Background

  5. The Smallest Farms

  6. Percent of Farms with Sales Under $1000 in the State

  7. So Why Worry? • “The census of agriculture is the leading source of facts and statistics about the Nation’s agriculture” • The data is used by a variety of sources and for a variety of purposes, including: • “…formulate farm and rural policies..” • “Allocate local and national funds for farm programs…”

  8. So Why Worry? • It causes misinformation to be disseminated regarding the sector, the information is there but people won’t take the time to verify ‘facts’ • It masks the changes that are occurring, such as consolidation and it provides an erroneous message with respect to the entry of women and minorities in ag.

  9. So Why Worry? • Current method provides a distorted view of the production ag. sector. • Over past decade net farm income was 20% of gross farm income. If averages hold and using gross for sales this would mean the small class had less than $200 in net farm income • In 2002 only 47% of the farms with sales less than $1,000 said they intended to do so. 39% did not and 15% didn’t answer. • With point farms, the total number of farms decreased 3%, without them there was a 13% decrease

  10. Solutions • Dual census • Increase the cutoff based on inflation since 1974 • Change approach entirely • Leave it as it is

  11. THANK YOU

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