Smallest number of U.S. farms since 1850, says ag census
The United States, one of the agricultural powers of the world, has the smallest number of farms — 1.9 million — since 1850, when there were only 31 states and four territories, said the USDA Census of Agriculture on Tuesday. Nearly four of every 10 farmers were over the age of 65 in 2022, when the data was collected, an abrupt surge from the 2017 census, when one in three farmers was retirement age.