U.S. agriculture is dominated by family-owned farms, said the USDA in its “five facts to know about family farms.” The 2012 Census of Agriculture found 97 percent of the 2.1 million farms in the country are family farms, and 88 percent of U.S. farms are small family farms, meaning they have less than $350,000 a year in gross cash farm income. Family farms are defined by the USDA as any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the operator and individuals related to the operator, including through blood, marriage, or adoption.
Only 3 percent of U.S. farms are “non-family farms,” which include partnerships and corporations. But they control 11 percent of the farm land and account for 16 percent of sales of crops and livestock, said the USDA.