Who Are Retired Farm Operators?

by Robert A. Hoppe

Approximately 352,000 farm operators, generally running very small farms, were identified as retired according to the 1993 Farm Costs and Returns Survey (FCRS). Although retired farmers operated 17 percent of all farms, they produced only 2 percent of the value of production. The information presented here has implications for the use of statistics on farming, the importance of farming to retired operators, the importance of the Conservation Reserve Program to retired operators, and the future of farming.

Keywords: Retired farmers, retired farm operators, elderly, retired, farm structure. Farm Costs and Returns Survey, farm income

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