Number of Iowa farms declined in 2013

Iowa had 88,500 farms in 2013, up 100 from 2012 when the last U.S. Department of Agriculture census was completed.

New data from the Iowa Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service shows the number of Iowa farms with sales of agricultural products and government payments of $500,000 or more increased by 700 farms in 2013 from the previous year.

Total land in farms in Iowa in 2013 was 30.6 million acres, unchanged since 2010.

Farms in the $500,000-and-above sales class showed an increase from 13.1 million acres in 2008 to 18.3 million acres in 2013.

The average farm size in Iowa in 2013 was 346 acres, up an acre from 2012. The average farm size in the $500,000 and over sales class decreased by 37 acres from 2012.

Iowa farmers harvested crops from 24.5 million acres in 2012 with no-till practices used on 6.95 million acres and conservation tillage practices used on 8.76 million acres.

Corporate ownership of Iowa farms increased over the five-year period from 7 percent in 2007 to 8 percent in 2012. Family-owned farms declined by about 2,800 to 74,673, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture.

Farms are classified into sales classes by adding sales of agricultural products and government program payments.

When the USDA's Census of Agriculture becomes available every five years, all estimates made during the period are reviewed for possible revisions. Revisions are made when sufficient data become available to check the accuracy of the original estimates.

Revisions also may be based on a re-evaluation of previous survey data when making current estimates to improve survey-to-survey relationships.