Only 2.4% of U.S. farms aren't family-owned, but they account for 17.7% of production value

The vast majority of U.S. farms, almost 98 percent in 2007, are family-run operations, according to a new study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. Even most of the large operations, which account for 12 percent of farms but 84 percent of production value, are family-owned, authors Robert A. Hoppe and David E. Baker report in ERS's Family Farm Report, 2010 Edition. Non-family operated farms, those where the majority of business is not owned by the operator or those related to the operator, accounted for only 2.4 percent of U.S. farms but 17.7 percent of total production value.

"Small family farms make up most of the U.S. farm count but produce a modest share of farm output," the authors write. "Small farms are less profitable than large-scale farms, on average, and their operator households tend to rely on off-farm income for their livelihood." Generally, "Farm operator households cannot be characterized as low-income when both farm and off-farm income are considered," they say in the report's executive summary. "Nevertheless, limited-resource farms still exist and account for 3 to 12 percent of family farms, depending on how 'limited-resource' is defined." Small family farms were defined as those with annual income less than $250,000. (Read more)