Farm406

27 farm406 U.S. Farmland as Percent of Land Area by County, 2012. Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture. Cropland in the United States Within the United States most of the farms continue to be found in the nation's central region. Essentially, the amount of land in farms has held steady since 2007. According to the Census of Agriculture conducted by the United Sates Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics (USDA NASS), the number of farms declined in the five-year period between 2007 and 2012, and the average farm size increased. Land in farms declined from 922 million acres in 2007 to 915 million acres in 2012 (.8 percent decline). These changes are not quite evenly distributed among the states. The number of farms increased in sixteen states, and the amount of farmland per farm increased in nineteen. Of the 915 million acres of total land in farms in 2012, 45.4 percent was permanent pasture, 42.6 percent was cropland, and 8.4 percent was timber. The remaining 3.6 percent was land occupied by farmsteads, buildings, livestock facilities, etc. Although the amount of cropland overall was down 4 percent –from 406,424,000 acres in 2007 to 389,690,000 acres in 2012—harvested acres were nearly 2 percent higher in 2012 than 2007. Montana is second among the states to Texas as having the most acres in the nation in farmland. Cropland in Montana Agriculture remains Montana's leading industry at 4.6 million dollars in 2015. That is 1.5 million dollars greater than the next Montana industry. The 2012 Census pertaining to agriculture showed that the number of farms in Montana had decreased from 29,524 in 2007 to 28,008 in 2012. Montana had 61,388,462 acres in farm land which was 66 percent of the total land in 2007. In 2012 Montana had 59,758,917 acres in farm land which was 64 percent of the total land. Of the total land in Montana, 19.5 percent was in cropland in 2007, but in 2012, cropland was 18.2 percent of the total land. Since Montana had 18,241,710 acres in cropland in 2007 and 17,022.177 acres in cropland in 2012, cropland acres decreased by .7 percent. Sixty-five percent of the farmland is made up of pastures and range. Montana Farmers Using the USGS Map Montana farmers can use the USGS map to look at farming conditions throughout Montana, the nation, and the world. For example, if India, the largest importer of pulses in the world and also the largest producer, should have repeated droughts, it will show up on this map. Montana farmers will know that there's going to be a big demand for pulses before that information hits the newspapers and magazines. The outcomes of this map are twofold: The information gained through the new map indicates that data collected in the United States and Montana over the years through census and surveying is fairly accurate. It also provides information on areas of the world that have not been well surveyed or documented in the past. These maps and information can be found at https://croplands.org and https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/ about/news_archive/release_gfsad_30_meter_ cropland_extent_products

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