Readings

The following collections of reports highlight ERS work on:

• Structure and finance of U.S. family farms,
• Agricultural contracting, and
• Characteristics and production costs of producers of different commodities.

These reports are a subset of ERS's broad research in the area meant to direct readers to reports in these more-narrowly defined topics. See also Research on Farm Structure and Organization.

Family Farm Reports and Brochures

The Family Farm Report Series provides detailed information on how U.S. farming is organized. Broad descriptions of farms based on U.S. averages can mask variation among different sizes and types of farms. Small family farms dominate the farm count and hold most assets. But large-scale family farms and nonfamily farms account for the bulk of farm production. Averages, such as sales per farm, therefore, can be misleading. Information on the different kinds of farms—and the farmers who operate them—informs the understanding of the economic well-being of farm households and the impact of farm policy. See also a list of older reports in this series.

• America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance: 2023 Edition (brochure)
• America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance: 2022 Edition (brochure)
• America's Diverse Family Farms: 2021 Edition (brochure)
• America's Diverse Family Farms: 2020 Edition (brochure)
• America’s Diverse Family Farms: 2019 Edition (brochure)
• America’s Diverse Family Farms: 2018 Edition (brochure)
• America’s Diverse Family Farms: 2017 Edition (brochure)
• America's Diverse Family Farms, 2016 Edition (brochure)
• America's Diverse Family Farms: 2015 Edition (brochure)
• Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2014 Edition
  America's Diverse Family Farms: 2014 Edition (companion brochure)
• Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition
  America's Diverse Family Farms, 2010 Edition (companion brochure)
• Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report, 2007 Edition
  America's Diverse Family Farms, 2007 Edition (companion brochure)
• Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: 2005 Family Farm Report
  America's Diverse Family Farms: Structure and Finances (companion brochure)
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms: 2004 Family Farm Report
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms: 2001 Family Farm Report
  America's Diverse Family Farms: Assorted Sizes, Types, and Situations (companion brochure)

See below for older reports in this series.

Agricultural Contracting Reports

Agricultural commodities are often sold through spot markets, but they can also be raised and sold under production or marketing contracts reached prior to harvest or an animal production cycle. This series of reports and updates tracks the use of contracts through time and across commodities, assesses the reasons for use of contracts, and examines contract features in specific applications.

• Agricultural Contracting Update: Contracts in 2008
• Agricultural Contracting Update, 2005
• Agricultural Contracting Update: Contracts in 2003
• Contracts, Markets, and Prices: Organizing the Production and Use of Agricultural Commodities

Characteristics and Production Costs Reports

These reports examine how production costs vary among producers of different commodities. They include details on production practices and input use levels (i.e., the 'technology set'), as well as farm operator and structural characteristics that underlie the cost and return estimates. The reports also illustrate the degree to which costs vary for producers of different commodities and indicate possible reasons for the variation. Characteristics and production costs are examined for low- and high-cost producers of each commodity, and producers of varying size, region, and typology classification. The data in these reports were collected in commodity-specific versions of USDA's annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). USDA conducts commodity-specific surveys as part of the ARMS process every 4-8 years on a rotating basis for each commodity, and uses these data to support annual commodity costs and returns estimates. Commodity costs and returns are estimated using the data from each survey and then updated between surveys to reflect changes in input costs and commodity prices and production.

• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Corn Farms, Including Organic, 2010 (September 2014).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Cotton Farms, 2007 (December 2012).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Hog Farms, 2004 (December 2007).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Corn Farms, 2001 (February 2006).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Sugarbeet Farms (November 2004).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Rice Farms (March 2004).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Dairy Operations (February 2004).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Wheat Farms (July 2002).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Soybean Farms (April 2002).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Cow-Calf Operations (November 2001).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Cotton Farms (October 2001).
• Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Corn Farms (August 2001).

Older Family Farm Reports

The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to report annually on the current situation and trends for family and nonfamily farming operations. The list below presents the reports (with links when available) produced under that mandate, until it expired. More recent Family Farm Reports have been produced on a periodic basis, and a brochure is now produced annually. 

• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1995: 20th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1994: 19th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1993: 18th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1992: 17th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1991: 16th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• Structural and Financial Characteristics of U.S. Farms, 1990: 15th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• The Changing Concentration of U.S. Agricultural Production During the 20th Century: 14th Annual Report to the Congress on the Status of the Family Farm
• Structural Change in the U.S. Farm Sector, 1974-87: 13th Annual Family Farm Report to Congress
• The U.S. Farming Sector Entering the 1990’s: Twelfth Annual Report on the Status of Family Farms
• Status of the Family Farm [Tenth Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• The U.S. Farm Sector: How Is It Weathering the 1980’s? [Ninth Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• The U.S. Farm Sector in the Mid-1980’s [Eighth Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• Farm Income by Type of Farm, 1982 and 1983 [Seventh Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• U.S. Farming in the Early 1980’s: Production and Financial Structure [Fifth Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• Status of the Family Farm [Fourth Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]
• Economic Well-Being of Farms: Third Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms
• Status of the Family Farm: Second Annual Report to the Congress
• Status of the Family Farm [First Annual Report to Congress on the Status of Family Farms]

Note: The Sixth and Eleventh Family Farm Reports were transmitted to Congress but not published by ERS.