What it means to be a family farm

According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census of Agriculture in 2022, there are 1,900,487 farms in the United States (Table 3). However, USDA’s definition of a farm is misleading, as they include operations with less than $1,000 in agricultural product sales in this total. What do the data really say about American farms?

Of the 1.9 million farms, the Census data tell us that more than 1.2 million of these farms generate less than $25,000 in agricultural products sales. Many of these are hobby farms, and the overwhelming majority of these farms are not financially sustainable (57% of all farms are not profitable, Table 5). We make no disparagement of these farms and their proprietors. Thomas Jefferson lauded the small American farmer, calling them “the most independent, the most virtuous” and “tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interest by the most lasting bonds” (Letter to John Jay, 1785). We fully agree. But a true understanding and appreciation for American agriculture must recognize the importance of larger farms and the families who operate them. What does the Census data say about where our food comes from?

The Census data tell us that large and very large farms together accounted for only 5.5% of all U.S. farms, but this group produced over 78% of all agricultural product sales in the country. These are immensely productive farms, operating only 31% of the land in farms (Table 72). Howell Farms of Crossroads is one of only 16,226 farms, 0.9% of all farms, which produced 42% of the value of all agricultural production (Table 3). So, just who is growing the food we eat?

The most recent data from USDA on farm ownership is from 2017 (the next update of the Farm Typology data is expected in August 2025). These data show that 96% of American farms are family-owned, and America’s farm families operate and care for 87% of the farmland in the country. Even in our category of largest farms, 60% are owned and operated by families.

Farm consolidation is very real and happening quickly. In the five years from 2017 to 2022, the land in farms fell by more than 2% and the number of farms fell by nearly 7%. There are now fewer farms of every size except the category of largest farms, which grew by 5% (Table 9). Economics dictates that the agriculture industry recognize and implement the efficiency and increased productivity of large-scale operations – just as other industries such as manufacturing and retail have done. Yet, despite the trend toward consolidation, most farms remain family-owned and operated.

With the American farmer now averaging 58 years of age and more than a third aged 65 or older, further consolidation is inevitable as farming operations and land change hands in the years ahead. Keeping America’s farms and farmland owned by families and not by institutions and foreign investors is key to defending American farms of all sizes. Furthermore, sensible zoning regulations that defend the agricultural countryside from residential and industrial encroachment are important for the hobby farmer and the commercial farm alike. These are sensible policy measures that protect American farm families, from the smallest to the largest. Keeping America’s farm families on the land and keeping the land in farms should be key indicators in assessing the outcome of the consolidation that is to come.

So, who is Howell Farms? We come from a long line of farmers, but ours is a second-generation farm founded in 1972 by David and Mary Howell and operated today by their sons Adam and Aaron Howell.

Like most other U.S. farms, we are just families whose business happens to be farming. We like to grow things – and we are privileged to work together to grow them!