AG 2010 10 18 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

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. 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 farmers in the middle 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. 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. 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 produced in accordance with sustainable agriculture standards. It also allows them to sell into wholesale markets and to provide the volume that wholesale buyers are increasingly seeking from local producers. Cabarrus includes farms that cover a broad range of acreage- A majority of farms - 86% —are less than 180 acres in size. These small and mid -sized farms have potential to make the biggest contribution to the local food system. Smaller farms are better - suited to direct market sales, and mid -sized farms can potentially provide larger volume of products (and thus reach a larger number of consumers) necessary to service larger -scale 8 Attachment number 2 G -4 Page 517