Today is “National Farm Day,” designed to recognize the contributions of those who till the soil and tend to the livestock in the United States.
Here are some facts about farming in the Cornhusker State and nationally, compiled by the Nebraska Corn Board and from the Nebraska Agriculture Fact Card:
- The U.S. had 2.01 million farms, as of 2021.
- Nebraska had 44,800 farms and ranches.
- Land in farms and ranches in Nebraska totaled 44.8 million acres, which is 92% of the state’s land mass.
- The average size of a Nebraska farm/ranch was 1,000 acres.
- Nebraska ranks No. 1 in production of Great Northern beans and popcorn, as well as slaughter of beef cattle (more than 7 million in 2021).
- According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture (taken every 5 years), the top five Nebraska counties ranked by agricultural sales were Cuming, Custer, Lincoln, Dawson and Platte.
- The average age of a Nebraska principal farm/ranch operator was 56.4 in 2017.
- Women make up 36% of the total number of U.S. farm operators.
- One in four jobs in Nebraska are related to agriculture.
- Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population.
- One U.S. farm feeds 166 people annually in the U.S. and abroad.