[Agriculture Fact Book 98]
The United States had 2.06 million farms in 1997, down less than 1 percent from 1996. A farm is defined as any establishment from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products was sold or would normally be sold during the year. The number of farms declined annually about 1 percent from 1987 through 1997, except for an increase in 1995 of less than half a percent which was due in part to a change in definition; the overall decline for the period was 7 percent.
Land in farms continues to decline slowly; the total of 968 million acres in 1997 is down 0.2 percent from a year earlier and down 3.1 percent from 1987. Land in farms has declined every year since reaching its peak at 1.206 billion acres in 1954. The number of farms has declined at a faster rate than land in farms, with the average farm increasing from 451 acres in 1987 to 471 acres in 1997.
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