Data from the Census of Agriculture reminds of continuing US wheat decline

In and of itself, data in the quinquennial Census of Agriculture showing a sharp drop over the course of the 2000s in the number of US farms cultivating wheat would not be cause for alarm. Added to so many other data points of concern, the figures released in February deserve the attention of industry executives. While there has been considerable scrutiny of the gradual loss of acres planted to wheat in the United States over the past 40-plus years, less note has been directed toward the drop in the number of wheat farms, defined by the US Department of Agriculture as any farm producing at least $1,000 worth of wheat per year. In 2022, the wheat farm count fell to 97,014, a drop of 34% from 10 years earlier and a startling 62% decrease from 243,568 in 1997. Again, the data isn’t necessarily so meaningful without broader context. The number of a wide range of farm types fell sharply over this period, including dairy farms dropping 71% and corn farms falling a more modest but still ...