N.Y. farm numbers increase
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For the second consecutive year, farm numbers in New York increased, reports Stephen Ropel, Director of USDA ís National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office. The number of farms for 2008 is estimated at 36,600, an increase of 200 from 2007. Land in farms decreased to 7.10 million acres, lowering the average farm size to 194 acres, 4 acres less than the previous year. Farms with sales over $500,000 increased by 500 to 2,300 while farms with sales between $250,000 and $499,999 fell by 100 to 1,700. The area of land operated by farms in these two groups totaled 3.04 million acres, nine percent above a year ago. The next smaller sales class, farms with sales between $100,000 and $249,999 decreased by 200 to 3,100 while land operated by these farms dropped 40,000 acres. Average farm size as a result rose from 303 acres to 310 acres. There were 10,800 farms with sales between $10,000 and $99,999 compared with 10,700 a year earlier. Land they operated totaled 1.70 million acres. There were 100 fewer small farms with sales between $1,000 and $9,999 in 2008, at 18,700. Land in farms for this class decreased 200,000 acres from the previous year to 1.40 million acres for an average farm size of 75 acres. The number of farms in the United States in 2008 is estimated at 2.2 million, 0.2 percent fewer than in 2007. Total land in farms, at 919.9 million acres, decreased 1.56 million acres, or 0.2 percent, from 2007. The average farm size was 418 acres, unchanged from the previous year. The decline in the number of farms and land in farms reflects a continuing consolidation in farming operations and diversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses. Farm numbers declined slightly in the $1,000-$9,999, $10,000-$99,999, and $100,000-$249,999 sales classes. Farm numbers rose slightly in the two largest sales classes. Because of strong commodity prices and rising value of sales many farms and ranches near the top of their sales class in 2007 may have moved into the next higher sales class in 2008 without expanding their operations. The largest percentage changes from 2007 occurred in the smallest and largest sales classes. Farm numbers declined 0.5 percent, to 1.22 million farms, in the $1,000-$9,999 sales class. Meanwhile, the number of farms in the $500,000 and over sales class increased by 4.8 percent to 126,000 farms. The number of farms with less than $100,000 in sales fell 0.6 percent from 2007 while the number of farms with $100,000 or more in sales rose 1.6 percent.
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