America's farms and ranches at a glance: 2025 edition

Abstract

Farms in the United States represent a diverse set of business operations and farm operators (producers). This annual report presents updated statistics on the characteristics of U.S. farms and ranches using the most recent data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), an annual survey conducted jointly by USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS). Statistics for calendar year 2024 are presented using a farm classification developed by USDA, ERS to categorize farms into groups with some common characteristics. The classifications used are mainly based on each farm’s annual gross cash farm income and ownership (family versus nonfamily) and, in some cases, the main occupation of the farm’s principal producer. This edition also contains two new, one-time sections that address contemporary topics. The first provides statistics on direct sales of edible and non-edible agricultural products. In this report, direct sales are defined as the process of marketing crops, livestock, poultry, or other agricultural products produced on the farm directly to consumers, retail markets, institutions, or intermediate markets. The second uses combined land tenure and organic acreage information collected in 2024, which has not been available in previous years, to summarize transitioning and certified organic acreage by ownership type (rented versus owned land), region, and farm specialization.