The 2022 agricultural census provides valuable context for the continuing farm bill debate. One key finding is that the share of agricultural production that occurs on the largest farms continues to increase.

The census reports that Missouri had 87,887 farms in 2022, and many press stories have focused on how that total has declined over time. Missouri has had a net loss of about 20,000 farms since 2007, for example.

Counting farms and reporting the average farm size doesn’t tell the full story. USDA counts as a “farm” any operation that could market $1,000 or more in agricultural products in a typical year. Thus, the reported figures include a lot of very small operations that account for a tiny fraction of farm sales.

For example, 63% of Missouri’s farms had less than $25,000 in agricultural product sales and government payments in 2022. Those farms account for just 2% of the total value of Missouri farm product sales and payments. Changes in the number of these very small operations can have a big impact on the reported number of farms, but very little impact on agricultural production.

On the other hand, just 3,502 Missouri farms had more than $1 million in agricultural product sales and government payments in 2022. However, those large operations accounted for $10 billion in farm product sales, two thirds of the $15 billion state total.

Comparing these numbers across time can be a bit misleading. Prices for many farm products were at or near all-time records in 2022, so there were at least a few farms that recorded a million dollars in sales in 2022 that probably have less than that in a normal year.

Still, it is clear that an increasing share of production is occurring on the largest farms. For example, the number of farms of 2,000 acres or more increased from 1,331 in 1997 to 2,454 in 2022.

The farm bill covers a wide range of programs, but most federal spending on agricultural subsidies is focused on a few major crops and the dairy sector. Beef cattle, hog, and poultry producers receive only modest amounts of support from farm bill programs, although they have benefited from disaster and pandemic aid programs that are authorized separately.

Missouri has a lot of cattle and a lot of cattle producers. Almost half of the farms in the state reported having at least some cattle in 2022, far more than reported producing any of the crops eligible for farm commodity programs and crop insurance.

For comparison, 18% of Missouri farms produced soybeans in 2022, and even fewer produced corn and other crops. Just 1,704 Missouri farms had dairy cows in 2022, a decline of more than 50% since 2002. Farm programs are very important to grain, oilseed, cotton, and dairy producers, but the number of Missouri farms selling those products is falling.

Some have argued that there is great potential to increase Missouri production of fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops. Those products account for a much smaller share of farm product sales in Missouri than they do elsewhere. Less than 2% of Missouri farms report fruit and vegetable sales, and far more land in Missouri is used to produce rice than all fruits and vegetables combined.

Pat Westhoff is director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri and a professor of agricultural and applied economics. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not reflect official positions or endorsements of the University of Missouri.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Agricultural census highlights increasing farm concentration in MO