New stats show changes on Oregon farms

Oregonfarms remain predominantly family-owned, many smaller farms appear to bedisappearing, the amount of irrigated farmland has decreased, and the value oforganicagriculture has grown tremendously.

Those are among the final resultsof the 2012 Census of Agriculture just released by the US Department ofAgriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service(NASS).

“Thislatest census reveals some interesting trends in our state’s agriculture,” saysOregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba. “Some things remainconstant while other facets ofour farm and ranch community seem to be changingbased on a comparison of the past two censuses. As vast and diverse as Oregonagriculture is, I’m not surprised at what the numbers tell us.”

TheCensus of Agriculture is conducted every five years, and is the most ambitiousand important compilation of all agriculture surveys. Data from all fiftystates has been compiledfollowing a comprehensive survey of nearly every knownfarmer and rancher in the nation. Preliminary data released in February showedthat Oregon has a smaller number of farms, a largeraverage size of farms, andan older average age of farmer and rancher. The final results includecounty-level data which provides useful and insightful information forresearchers and analysts.

Accordingto the new census, farm ownership in Oregon appears much the same as it was in2007. Of the state’s 35,439 farms, nearly 91 percent are family-owned,virtually unchangedfrom the previous census. The amount of acreage underfamily ownership has dropped slightly from 74 percent to 70 percent, while theamount of sales from family owned farms has also decreaseda bit from 71percent to just under 69 percent.

Overall,Oregon has fewer farms that recorded less than $10,000 in annual sales than itdid in 2007– nearly 4,000 less– but that category of farms by value of salesremains the largest,accounting for more than 64 percent of all Oregon farms.It still appears that small farms are having a difficult time staying viable.In some cases, however, they may be growing their way out of thecategory.

“The2012 census data is showing us that there is some consolidation going on– wemay be losing some of the smaller farms or they are gaining economies of scaleand moving up in size,”says Dave Losh, state statistician with the Oregonfield office of NASS.

Farmsrecording less than $10,000 in sales still only account for 1.9 percent of thestate’s total sales of agricultural products.

Correspondingly,Oregon has more farms that recorded $500,000 in sales or more compared to fiveyears earlier, but at only 1,797 farms, that category remains the smallest,accounting foronly 5 percent of all Oregon farms. However, that categoryaccounts for 79.6 percent of the state’s total sales.

Buckingthe national trend, Oregon’s net cash farm income was down 10 percent while theUS overall saw a 24 percent hike. Oregon’s expenses took a big bite out of themarket value ofproducts sold.

“Labor remains the top expense for Oregonagriculture because of the high minimum wage, but it was the price paid foranimal feed that showed the biggest increase among expenses,largely because ofthe Midwest drought ,” says Losh.

Totallabor expenses in 2012 approached one billion dollars, an increase of 8.4percent from 2007 and a jump of 44 percent from 2002.

Thefinal census results also provide information on irrigated land.In 2012, Oregon recorded 1.6 million acres ofirrigated land, a decrease of 11.7 percent from the 1.8 million irrigated acresin 2007. With all its water shortage problems in recent years, Klamath Countysaw a 29.4 percent decrease over that five year period and is no longerOregon’s top irrigated county. Malheur Countyis the new number one inirrigation, but still lost nearly 8 percent of its irrigated acreage. Twocounties in the top five in terms of irrigation– Harney and Umatilla– actuallyincreased the number ofirrigated acres.

Forthe first time, the expanded census survey asked questions of farmers andranchers about renewable energy producing systems on their operations. InOregon, 1,401 farms reportedhaving renewable energy production, with 1,141claiming solar panels, 311 having wind turbines (either owned or leased toothers), 95 with geoexchange systems, and 41 operating small hydrosystems.

Oregonproducers are among the nation’s leaders in farm direct marketing, according tothe latest census data. In the category of marketing products directly toretail outlets, Oregon ranks6th with 1,891 farms. In the category of marketingproducts through community supported agriculture (CSAs), Oregon ranks 10th ofall states. The census does not tally the number of farmsparticipating infarmers’ markets or roadside stands, but both are popular marketing outlets forOregon producers.

Thecensus provides some interesting data regarding organic production. From 2007to 2012, the number of organic farms in Oregon dropped from 799 to 554.

“Thedrop largely took place in the smaller operations, those farms with less than$5,000 in annual sales,” says Losh.

However,the market value of organic products in Oregon increased dramatically over thefive year period from $88 million to $194 million. According to the census,that’s good enough forOregon to be ranked third of all states behindCalifornia and Washington.

The2012 Census of Agriculture contains an incredible amount of statisticalinformation– numbers that can tell many stories about what is going on withagriculture in Oregon, all of itscounties, and all other states.

Forstate and national data, go to < www.agcensus.usda.gov >.