E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
(518) 457-5570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:  William Blackson
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

www.nass.usda.gov/ny



                                 FARM SIZE

The average size of all farms in the United States was 418 acres in 2007,
according to Steve Ropel, Director of USDA’s National Agricultural
Statistics Service, New York Office.  New York’s average farm size was half
of the national average, 197 acres. New York’s average is much lower due to
the lack of large farm & ranching operations found in the West. St.
Lawrence County had the most land in farms, 347,246 acres in 2007. However,
the biggest average size farm was found in Jefferson County, 296 acres.
Nassau County had the least land in farms and the smallest average size
farm, excluding New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, Richmond and Rockland
counties.

Although New York saw a 2.5 percent decrease in farms and a 6.4 percent
decrease of land in farms from the 2002 Census, there were some noticeable
changes in different farm size categories in 2007.

In 2002, there were 8,359 farms with 10-49 acres. In 2007, there were 8,799
farms in this size range, which represents a 5.3 percent increase. Farms
with 1000-1999 acres decreased 6.5 percent while farms with 2000 or more
acres increased 28.6 percent from 2002.

The majority of New York’s acreage is owned by medium sized farms. Farms
with 50-999 acres totaled 5,006,266 acres in 2007, 70 percent of total
acres.  There were 36 farms with over 5,000 acres each, for a total acreage
of 244,989 in 2007.

The 2007 Census of Agriculture is the most comprehensive source of
statistics portraying our Nation’s agriculture. It is the only source of
uniform agricultural data for every county in the United States.

Details on this and other Census figures can be found on-line through the
New York NASS web site: www.nass.usda.gov/ny. U.S., State and County tables
are available in PDF, Text, and CSV files. Printed copies will be available
along with the CD-ROMS and a searchable database. For further information
or assistance, please call the New York office at 800-821-1276 or send an
e-mail to: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov.

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4-15-09