Farm typology
Encyclopedia
The USDA’s Economic Research Service
(ERS) has developed a farm typology, or farm classification, that divides the 2.1 million U.S. farms into 8 mutually exclusive and relatively homogeneous groups:
Also, the eight categories can be collapsed into 3:
Data for 2003 indicate that Commercial farms, those having sales of $250,000 or more annually, constitute 9% of all farms and account for 72% of production. Intermediate farms, constituting 24% of all farms, account for 19% of production. The largest number of farms, characterized as rural residence farms, constitute 68% of all farms and account for 8% of production.
Economic Research Service
The Economic Research Service is the main source of economic information and research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Located in Washington D.C., the mission of ERS is to inform and enhance public and private decision-making on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food,...
(ERS) has developed a farm typology, or farm classification, that divides the 2.1 million U.S. farms into 8 mutually exclusive and relatively homogeneous groups:
- limited resource farms
- retirement farms
- residential/lifestyle farms
- farming occupation/lower sales
- farming occupation/high sales
- large family farms
- very large family farms
- nonfamily farms.
Also, the eight categories can be collapsed into 3:
- rural residence farms
- intermediate farms
- commercial farms
Data for 2003 indicate that Commercial farms, those having sales of $250,000 or more annually, constitute 9% of all farms and account for 72% of production. Intermediate farms, constituting 24% of all farms, account for 19% of production. The largest number of farms, characterized as rural residence farms, constitute 68% of all farms and account for 8% of production.