Family and Larger-Than-Family Farms: Their Relative Position in American Agriculture

Excerpt from the report Highlights: An overwhelming majority of United States farms are family—operated; the larger-than-family farms represent only a small proportion of all farms. Thus, in 1954, there were 24 family farms for each larger-than-family farm. Dominance of family farms was most pronounced in the Lake States, the Com Belt, and the Northern Plains, where there were 48 family farms for each larger-than-family farm. It was least pronounced in the Mountain and Pacific Regions, where there were only 9 family farms for each larger-than-family farm. The proportion of family farms increased from 95.2 percent of all farms in 1944 to 96 percent in 1954. This increase was most marked with respect to large commercial farms. In 1954, family farms constituted 86.6 percent of all farms with $5,000 or more of farm marketings, as compared with 83 percent in 1949. The number of family farms selling $5,000 or more of farm products increased from 1 million in 1949 to 1.2 million in 1954 — a 20-percent increase. In contrast, large-than-family farms with these marketings decreased for the same period from 202,000 to 174,000 — a 14-percent decline. The increasing proportion of family farms, especially in the larger producing groups, was evident also in all main farming regions. Again, the largest increase was registered in the Lake States, the Corn Belt, and the Northern Plains, and the smallest in the Mountain and Pacific Regions.