Texas is national livestock, poultry sales leader

From staff Reports

June 17, 2004 -- The Texas Agricultural Statistics Service has released the results of the 2002 Census of Agriculture.  The Census is conducted every five years to provide a snapshot of America's agriculture. This picture is an invaluable tool for assessing trends and determining current needs of farms and ranchers at the local level.

"The Census of Agriculture provides complete, comparable statistics for every county in the nation," said Robin Roark, state director. "For example, it showed that Parker County ranked first in the state for number of farms and Deaf Smith was number one in market value of agricultural products sold."

The Census of Agriculture counted 228,926 farms and ranches in Texas. These farms sold $14.1 billion worth of agriculture products, an average of $61,744 per farm. Almost 72 percent of these farms sold less than $10,000 worth of agricultural products and 45 percent reported less than $2,500 in sales.

The 2002 Census of Agriculture showed that Texas led the nation in the value of livestock and poultry sold with $10.4 billion. The state ranked sixth in sales of crops and second in total market value of agricultural products sold.

The census also revealed other interesting facts about Texas agriculture, such as:

• 53.6 percent of operators considered farming or ranching as their principal occupation.

• Farm and ranch production expenses totaled $13.7 billion in 2002.

• 10 percent of Texas farms and ranches had more than 1,000 acres.

• 33 percent of the state's farmers and ranchers operated less than 50 acres.

The 2002 Census of Agriculture also counted some new commodities including bison, deer, elk, llamas, emus and ostriches. All of the Volume I tables are now available online at www.usda.gov/nass/ by clicking on "Census of Agriculture."

For general information about the census or other NASS surveys, visit www.usda.gov/nass/.