Is corporate farming becoming more prevalent?
A. Corporate farms account for a small but growing share of all farms and a significant and growing share of farm sales. That growth is driven by the expansion of family corporations, with some growth among closely held nonfamily corporations. Census data report that nonfamily corporations with more than 10 stockholders owned 1,029 farms in 1997 (0.05 percent of the total). While those farms are usually large (sales per farm of $3.6 million), they still accounted for only 1.9 percent of all farm sales, down from 3 percent in 1978 (see table). More recent data based on the smaller Agricultural Resource and Management Survey (ARMS) samples show no increase in the share of sales by nonfamily corporate farms through 2002. Large corporations focus on a few commodities: 60 percent of their $3.8 billion in 1997 sales came from three livestock sectors poultry, cattle, and hogs while fruits/nuts and nursery crops accounted for more than half of their crop sales.
