Describing Beginning Farmers

In May of this year the Economic Research Service of the U.S.D.A. released a report outlining data on the number and characteristics of beginning farmers and ranchers. The USDA defines beginning farmers as basically those who have been farming for less than 10 years. Due to the high capital start up costs of production agriculture, the USDA maintains special programs such as loans and special program payment rates for beginning farmers. The information shared in this report assists the USDA in implementing and operating these programs.

The report offers insights into the personal and household characteristics of beginning farms and ranches, as well as data on farm numbers and locations, commodity specialization, and asset ownership and management. It also briefly describes some of the programs that USDA offers to newer farm operations. The short 27 page document is a very interesting look into the challenges facing beginning farmers. It even includes estimates of survival rates for new operations. You can find the report here: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB53/EIB53.pdf

Kevin Moore
moorek@missouri.edu