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GRAPH 2. FARMS AND MARKET SALES 200 150 E t0 lL O 0 100 Z 50 Few farms are "major occupation farms" — The USDA uses sales information to delineate between large and small family farms. Family -owned farms are considered large if they report sales over $250,000. The USDA classifies small farms according to the following typology: Limited resource farms: Small farms with sales less than $100,000 and household income either below poverty level or half the county median income. Retirement farms: Small farms whose operators report they are retired. Residential /lifestyle farms. Small farms whose operators report they had a major occupation other than farming. Farming occupation /low -sales farms: Small farms with sales less than $100,000 whose operators report farming as their major occupation. Farming occupation /high -sales farms: Small farms with sales between $100,000 and $249,999 whose operators report farming as their major occupation. In 2007, only 64 Cabarrus farms (approximately 10 %) reported being major occupation farms, while 399 farms reported being either retirement or residential farms .24 200 150 100 50 N Market forces challenge mid -sized farms — From 2002 to 2007, our state lost 1,181 farms between 50 -179 acres, more than in any other category. CEFS has identified the loss of mid -sized farms as a pressing problem for the entire state. Although this is not the trend in Cabarrus County — indeed the number of mid -scale farms increased by 44% between 2002 and 2007 — few mid -scale farms exist. In 2007, only 13 farms of the County's 611 farms reported market sales between $100,000 and $250,000. In 2003 a national task force — including representation from North Carolina — was formed to revive America's intermediate farms, defined as those farms reporting sales between $100,000 and $250,000 where farming is the owner's primary occupation .21 These farms fall into what is called the "agriculture of the middle." The term refers to a disappearing sector of mid -scale farms /ranches and related food enterprises that can neither market bulk commodities successfully, nor sell food directly to consumers. These mid -sized farms are vulnerable in today's polarized markets because they are too small to compete in the highly- consolidated, vertically integrated supply chains and too large and commodity- centered to sell in direct markets .21 Yet their size positions them to take advantage of a unique market opportunity. It allows them to be innovative and flexible enough to respond to the growing demand for food 14 CENTER for ENVIRONMENTAL FARMING SYSTEMS Attachment number 1 1 -1 Page 628 000 00 �� O �� 00 �� 6 ON N � O� O � O� 0 O� O 0 6s ss 6s ss 6s ss ssti 10), ss� ss� ss� ss� � � ss� ss ss