A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report released late last year shows that farming and ranching remains a family business in the U.S.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and  Economic Research Service (ERS) issued the 2023 Farms and Ranches at a Glance Report.

“The America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance Report is from ERS and NASS, and it describes the characteristics of U.S. farms and ranches. They use data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey, which is an annual survey of about 19,000 farms,” Betty Resnick, American Farm Bureau Federation economist, said.

The most significant finding in the report is that the majority of all U.S. farms are family owned.

“One of the biggest findings is that farming continues to be a family business,” Resnick said. “Ninety-seven percent of all U.S. farms are family-owned, and family farms account for 90% of all farm production by value. In addition, 88% of all farms are classified as small family farms.”

USDA and NASS measure farm size by gross cash farm income (GCFI).

Farms with GCFI less than $350,000 are classified as small family farms. Midsize family farms are farms with a GCFI between $350,000 and $999,999. Large-scale family farms are farms with GCFI of $1 million or more.

The report shows small farms operate 46% of U.S. agricultural land in 2022.

Large-scale family farms accounted for 52% of the total value of production and 25% of agricultural land in 2022.

Midsize family farms accounted for 21% of agricultural land and 19% of the total value of production.

Resnick noted the report underscores the financial conditions for U.S. farms.

“It puts high-risk farms as those operating at under a 10% profit margin, and low-risk farms operate with over 25% profit margin,” Resnick said. “It’s important to note that every category of farms has at least a quarter of farms classified in that category as high risk, which is why the farm safety net provided by the farm bill is so critical to keeping our country’s farms in business during volatile times. In addition, the survey does classify farms into small farms, mid-size, and large, and classifies them as both family-owned and non-family-owned.”

View the full report here.