Young Producers Boost Great Lakes Agriculture

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) Great Lakes Region encompasses Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio – three states with a significant impact on U.S. agriculture and a healthy crop of young producers.

Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio were all in the top 10 states for producers under age 35 (young producers) as a percent of total state producers. Indiana was second in the nation with 11.7% of the state’s producers under 35, trailing only Pennsylvania, which had 12.7%. Ohio was fifth in the nation with 11.1% of its state producers under 35, while Michigan was eighth with 10.4%.

Counties with the highest proportion of young producer-operated farms were largely in the Great Lakes, Northern Great Plains, and Northeast regions, and LaGrange County, Indiana, was one of only two counties in the entire country that had more than 1,000 young producers. LaGrange’s 1,294 young producers trailed only Lancaster County, Pennsylvania’s 2,057 young producers.

There were 24,691 farms with young producers across the region that accounted for 5,194,545 acres and more than $8 billion in agricultural sales. Like all U.S. farms in terms of specialization, grain and oilseed farms made up the largest share of farms run by young producers in the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Region’s 34,171 young producers – like young U.S. producers overall – were also more likely to be beginning farmers, with 82% having farmed 10 or fewer years compared to 30% of all Great Lakes Region producers. The average age of producers in each state – 56.0 in Indiana, 56.3 in Ohio, and 56.5 in Michigan – were all under the national average of 58.1.

All of this adds up to a region set up for a strong future in agriculture.