Census of Ag Provides Interesting Statistics

Tracey Erickson
Dairy Field Specialist

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its Census of Agriculture for 2012 full report. One thing that continues to alarm is the small amount of people involved in production agriculture, 3.28 million in the United States (Census of Agriculture, 2012) relative to the total United States population of 313.0 million people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). That equates to 1% of the total population furthermore we have seen a 3.1% decline of people directly involved in production agriculture since the 2007 Census of Agriculture.

Additionally, the average age of farmers has continued to trend upward and is presently at 58.3 years whereas the average age of the principal farm operator in 2007 was 57.1 years (Census of Agriculture, 2012). The average age has climbed by about 1 year every time the Census of Agriculture has been taken since 1982 (Figure 1).

Figure 1.



Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture

When we look closer at the dairy industry as a whole, the 2012 Census of Agriculture shows an 8.2% decline in the total number of dairy farms from 69,890 in 2007 to 64,098 in 2012. However, we have only seen a small decline in the total number of Milk cows in that same time period. In 2007 there were 9.266 million cows and in 2012 there was a decline of 0.1% in total cow numbers to 9.252 million cows (Census of Agriculture, 2012). In 2013 the estimated total number of milk cows in the United States was 9.221 million with an average production of 21,811 pounds of milk (USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, May, 2014). Interestingly, NASS reported an increase in the total estimated milk cows in April, 2014 to 9.231 million head, which is 10,000 more head than reported in March, 2014.

There has been an increase in the farms with less than 19 head of milk cows/farm whereas, the moderate size dairy farms with between 20 and 999 head of milk cows/farm saw a decline and those with more than 1,000 head of milk cows increased in numbers (Figure 2). With a national milk cow herd that has grown slightly in recent months and the number of moderate sized dairy farms has decreased, therefore, the average dairy farm is increasing in the total number of milk cows/farm (Census of Agriculture, 2012). This fact is evident when we calculate the average milk cow herd which has increased in size to 144.3 head in 2012 from 132.5 head in 2007 across the United States (Census of Agriculture, 2012).

Figure 2.



Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture

So where does South Dakota fall among these trends? Very similarly, with a declining number of dairy herds (Figure 3). However, there is a steady growth in the number of milk cows in the dairy herd. According to the Census of Agriculture, South Dakota reported 86,243 milk cows in 2007 and 91,831 milk cows in 2012. Presently, NASS is estimates milk cow numbers in South Dakota for the first quarter of 2014 to be at 96,000 head.

Figure 3.


Source: SD Department of Agriculture, FY2013 Annual Dairy Report

The I-29 Dairy Corridor has seen steady growth in the dairy industry. Inputs in regards to feed and proximity to markets remain favorable. However, a major challenge dairy producers’ face is labor as farms continue to increase in size with a limited workforce willing to work in production agriculture and a dwindling number of young producers returning to manage operations.
 

Source:igrow.org