Montana Ag Network: Small increase in farm and ranch operations
MTN
and last updated 2021-03-15 10:35:01-04
BOZEMAN â The U.S. lost an estimated 4,400 farms and ranches in 2020, leaving just over two million agricultural operations across the country. But itâs a different case for Montana.
The Treasure State reported an increase of 100 smaller ag operations, according to the USDA.
Eric Sommer of the USDA National Ag Statistics Service said, The recent Land and Farm Survey that came out showed Montana had a slight increase in the $1,000 to $9,999 income level.
One reason for the increase is landowners selling off land to be developed.
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In contrast to other sectors, the dairy sector appears to be thriving. 2019 National Farm Survey results show average dairy family farm income of almost €66,000 from an average dairy herd of 86 cows which, compared with other farming sectors, looks impressive.
Yet dairy farm incomes remain much the same as they were prior to quota removal and herd expansion. Also overlooked is the level of unpaid family labour, so crucial to the running of Irish dairy farms and constituting almost a third of a labour unit.
The IFA Dairy Vulnerability Analysis published this week highlights that when adjusted for family labour, the average wage per family unit on a dairy farm (€48,049) is marginally lower than that of an average industrial wage (€48,946).