The USDA’s 2025 Organic Survey is Coming Soon

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 14:30:57 GMT

If you’re an organic grower, keep a watch on your mailbox. The 2025 Organic Survey is headed your way.

USDA announced Dec. 10 that the National Agricultural Statistics Service will soon mail the survey to all known organic farms and ranches, as well as producers who are transitioning to certified organic, across all 50 states. Growers will first receive survey codes with an invitation to reply online, followed by the full questionnaire in early January, according to NASS. The questionnaire will ask producers to provide information on acreage, production and sales, as well as production and marketing practices.

“Organic agriculture is a growing industry, and it is our job as a federal statistical agency to help measure this part of the agriculture sector,” NASS Administrator Joseph Parsons says. “We are excited to provide data on organic agriculture that will help inform organic producers and other industry professionals to make informed decisions for their operations.”

Federal laws require producers to respond to the survey, as well as requiring USDA to keep respondents’ identities and responses confidential. The deadline for response is Feb. 5, 2026.

Organic Information of the Past

The USDA organic survey is a special study from the Census of Agriculture and was last conducted in 2021 .

That survey reported there were 17,445 certified organic farms in 2021, up 5% from 2019, and 4.9 million organic acres. California led the states with 3,061 certified operations and 813,710 organic acres. Indiana saw the largest proportional growth in operations at 697 in 2021 compared to 595 in 2019, a 17% increase, while Idaho saw the largest proportional growth of organic acres at 215,668, a 19% increase compared to 2019.

In 2021, the market value of certified organic products sold stood at $11.2 billion, up 13% compared to 2019. Produce items on the top 10 list by market value included apples ($629 million), strawberries ($336 million), grapes ($309 million) and lettuce ($276 million).

The results of this new organic survey will be available Oct. 30, 2026, according to NASS.

2017 Ag Census: Total Number Of U.S. Farms Declines 3%

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:23:53 GMT

The total number of farms in the United States declined 3% from 2012 to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 Census of Agriculture released Thursday, April 11. Since the 1997 Census of Agriculture, the number of farms in the U.S. has declined 7.8%.

The total number of farms on Dec. 31, 2017, was calculated at 2,042,220, which was 67,110 fewer than reported in the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) with information directly from farmers and ranchers. Overall, USDA said there continue to be more of the largest and smallest operations and fewer middle-sized farms. The average age of all farmers and ranchers continues to rise.

NASS found the average size of farms in 2017 was 441 acres, up slightly from 434 acres in 2012. However, the total number of land in farms in 2017 was down 1.5%, totaling slightly more than 900 million acres.

The number of farms with cropland declined 5% from 2012 to 2017, yet the number of acres farmed in crops increased 1.7% to 396.4 million acres.

While NASS found the overall number of farmers declined, the declines occurred among mid-sized farms. Both the smallest sized farms (less than 9 acres) and the largest farms (2,000 acres of more), showed increases. Farms with fewer than 9 acres (273,325 farms) increased by 18% since the 2012 census, and farms with more than 2,000 acres (85,127) increased 3.5%.

(Farm Journal)

For specific crops, NASS reported a decline of nearly 13% in the number of farms growing corn, an 11% decline in the number of cotton farms, a 25% decline in farms growing sorghum for grain, and a 31% decline in the number of farms raising winter wheat for grain.

Among livestock operations, the most significant decline in number of farms was among dairies. From 2012 to 2017, NASS counted a 15% decline in operations, leaving a total of 54,599 farms with milk cows in the U.S.

Contrasting with the decline in dairy farms, both beef cattle and hog farms saw increases in total farms in the 2017 NASS numbers.

U.S. farms with hogs and pigs totaled 66,439 in 2017, a 5% increase. Farms with beef cows totaled 729,046 in 2017, a 3% increase.

U.S. farms with laying hens saw a 15% increase to 232,500. Farms with broilers and other type meat chickens sold saw a slight decline to 32,751.

Want to learn more about the data and trends from the 2017 Census of Agriculture? Visit AgWeb.com/AgCensus2017

(Farm Journal)