Farms
and Farmers in Iowa
Farmers
enjoy helping things grow. The animals they raise and the crops
they grow produce food and fiber for the world.
Number
and Size of Farms
- There
are 89,700 farms in Iowa.
- The
size of an average Iowa farm is 353 acres.
- An
acre is about the size of a football field.
- The
total number of US farms totaled 2.11 million in 2001 (average
size = 443 acres).
Amount
of Food Produced
- The
average U.S. farmer raises enough food each year to feed 129
people.
- The
average Iowa farmer feeds more than 279 people each year.
- The
U.S. farmer's share of the food dollar for food grown on U.S.
farms in 2003 was estimated at 19 cents.
- The
other 81 cents goes to marketers, distributors, processors
and transporters.
Production
Rankings
| Product |
|
Amount
Produced |
|
State
Ranking |
|
| Cattle |
|
3.60
million head |
|
8th
(2005) |
|
| Corn |
|
2.2
billion bushels |
|
1st
(2004) |
|
| Eggs |
|
11.6
billion eggs |
|
1st
(2004) |
|
| Hay |
|
6.2
million tons |
|
6th
(2004) |
|
| Hogs |
|
16.1
million head |
|
1st,
All hogs (2005) |
|
| Milk |
|
3.6
billion pounds |
|
12th
(2004) |
|
| Oats |
|
10.1
million bushels |
|
5th
(2004) |
|
| Sheep/Lambs |
|
244,000
head |
|
6th
(2003) |
|
| Soybeans |
|
497
million bushels |
|
2nd
(2004) |
|
| Turkeys |
|
9.0
million birds |
|
10th
(2004) |
|
Iowa's
agriculture ranked third in the United States for cash coming
into farms from all livestock and crops marketed in 2003.
California is ranked first and Texas is ranked second.
The
value of all Iowa farm commodities was $12.6 billion or
nearly 6% of the US total.
Exports
Iowa
farmers sell and ship their products all over the United States
and the world. These products, called exports, help people
in other countries.
- Iowa
ranks second nationally in the value of agriculture exports.
Only California exports more agriculture products.
- Many
countries buy Iowa agriculture products including Canada,
Germany, Japan and Mexico.
- Iowa
ranked first in exports of soybeans and feed grain.
