Numbers

Farm and Land in Farms Report Released
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently released its annual Farm and Land in Farms report.

According to the most current statistics, the number of farms in the United States in 2003 is down 4 percent from 2002 to 2.13 million, while total land in farms fell to 938.8 million acres, down 1,550,000 acres from the 2002 numbers. The average size farm during 2003 was 441 acres, an increase of one acre from the previous year.

The number of farms in 2003 declined in 20 states, remained unchanged in 28 and increased in two. The largest decline in farms occurred in California, which lost 1,200 followed by Missouri with 1,000. The two states with an increase were Mississippi, with 600 additional farms, and Montana, with an additional 100.

NASS stated that the decline in the number of farms and land in farms continues to reflect consolidation in farming operations and competition for agricultural land for other uses.

A complete copy of the report can be found at: http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/histdata.htm on the World Wide Web.

ABS Yearbook Notes Little Change in Agriculture According to the most current edition of the annual yearbook produced by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australian agriculture has experienced little change:

• Cattle and sheep continue to be the main livestock, with 28 million head of cattle and 106 million sheep and lambs.
• Wheat remains the most commonly grown crop, despite a marked increase in the amount of cotton and canola produced.
• Agriculture still provides around 6 percent of Australia's overall income.

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