Results of the latest U.S. Census of Agriculture were released last week, and following a trend that has continued over the past decade, they show the total number of farms in the state decreasing as the average farm size increases.
The Census of Agriculture is taken every five years. Although the last one was in 2017, the results were not published until April 11 of this year. In 2007 there were more than 65,500 farms recorded in Kansas, a number which decreased to less than 62,000 in 2012, and most recently dipped below 60,000 for a total of 58,569 farms in the state. Over the same period the average size of Kansas farms has increased from 707 acres in 2007, to 747 in 2012, to 781 in 2017, according to the newly released figures.
“We’re seeing fewer farmers and they are getting bigger,” said Mark Nelson, director of commodities at the Kansas Farm Bureau. While changes over the period between 2012 and 2017 were not as extreme as between 2007 and 2012, Nelson said the latest census figures are “just kind of continuation of the trend.”
(Read more: State News – Morning Sun)