Sweat and Sunshine, A Farmer’s Recipe – 2022 Census of Agriculture for Oregon
September 13, 2024The sun peeks over the horizon. Wheat stalks rustle gently with the wind as the rooster crows, a familiar call signaling the beginning of the day’s work. Farmers across Oregon lace up their boots, wipe the dust from their jeans, and don sweat stained hats, their stories told through salty droplets and calloused hands. These are the hands that till the fertile soil from the coastal shores to east of the Cascade Mountain range from sunrise to sunset.
Oregon farm acreage totaled about 15.3 million acres in 2022 with 35,547 farms and 70,501 producers. Oregon agricultural product sales were $6.7 billion, ranging from a high of $874.6 million in Marion County to a low of $7 million in Lincoln County. Five counties – Clackamas, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, and Umatilla – combined to produce half of the state’s agricultural sales.
These are just a few select results available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Report, 2022 Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture’s purpose is “a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them.” Plots small to large are counted and categorized to better understand the agricultural sector at national, state, and county levels.
Reporting improved for the 2022 Census of Agriculture with the inclusion of data for hemp products, a growing industry in Oregon, and the addition of four categories to livestock, poultry and their related products. These details refine the data landscape of Oregon’s agricultural sector.
Oregon Land and Total Sales: 2017 to 2022
Total land in farms decreased from 15,962,322 acres in 2017 to 15,295,779 acres in 2022. This reflects a 4% contraction in the area used for farming.
Total sales increased significantly from 2017 to 2022. Oregon sold just over $5 billion in agricultural products in 2017. Sales reached $6.7 billion in 2022 – an increase of 35%. The average sales per farm also jumped from $133 million to $190 million, showing a 43% increase. The average sales increase can be explained in part by the total number of farms dropping from 37,616 to 35,547, as well as increased use of capital in the form of trucks, fertilizer, manure, and chemicals.
Crop Sales
Crop sales accounted for $4.7 billion or about 69% of Oregon’s total sales. Livestock sales were $2.1 billion or approximately 31%. Oregon ranked 28th out of 50 states in agricultural product sales overall, coming in at 20th position for crop sales.
Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas sales brought in $578.8 million in 2022, or about 12% of Oregon crop sales – ranking 31st nationally. Sales in this product segment rose by $234.9 million compared with 2017, roughly 68%. Umatilla County was the lead producer with $174.6 million in sales, about 30% of Oregon’s total. The top three counties – including $125.6 million from Morrow County (22%) and $51.7 million from Sherman County (9%) – make up 61% of Oregon’s grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas sales.
Oregon’s vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes sales ranked seventh nationally with $733 million or about 16% of total crop sales. Morrow, Umatilla and Malheur counties all ranked within the top 50 producers in the United States. Morrow County ranked first in Oregon with $201.3 million in sales (28%), Umatilla second with $161.4 million (22%), and Malheur at $100.3 million (14%). Forage and wheat for grain were the top crops in terms of total acres.
Fruits, trees, nuts, and berries brought in $889.8 million in 2022 sales, or 19% of Oregon’s total crop sales, ranking fourth nationally. Hood River County led the state with $125.9 million in sales, about 14% of the state’s total sales. The county ranked 39th nationally for this segment. Yamhill County came in second place with $117.5 million sales or 13% of total sales. Marion County garnered $117.5 million, placing third. Wasco and Polk counties were the fourth and fifth largest producers harvesting $83.3 million and $67.3 million in sales respectively rounding out Oregon’s top five fruits, tree nuts, and berries producers.
Agriculture sales in the nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod segment totaled $1.2 billion. This represented 26% of Oregon’s crop sales, propelling the state to third place nationally. Marion County’s $322.6 million in sales made it the top producer and fifth highest in the country. Marion produced over a quarter (26%) of Oregon sales in this segment. With sales of $246 million (20%) Clackamas County ranked second in the state and ninth nationally out of 2,660 counties producing these kinds of crops.
Oregon’s cultivated Christmas trees and short rotation woody crops sales shine at the top of the Douglas fir, ranking first in the nation. Clackamas County placed not only first in the state but first in the country with sales of $57.1 million or 34% of total sales in this segment.
Other crops and hay which includes grass seed, hay and grass silage, haylage, greenchop, hops, mint for oil, and sugarbeets were a strong source of revenue generating $1.1 billion in sales (23% of total crop sales). Oregon ranked fifth nationwide. Marion County led all counties with sales of $194 million (18%). Linn County contributed $137 million sales for 13% of total sales. Notably Lake County ranked third for production in the state with 99% of its crop sales from other crops and hay, adding $115 million. Based on 2022 sales, other crops and hay were the primary crops produced in Grant County (99%), Harney (99%), Wheeler (97%), Crook (87%), and Wallowa (67%).
Livestock, Poultry, and Products Sales
This segment generated $2.1 billion in sales revenue, representing 31% of annual agriculture sales of $6.7 billion in 2022. Oregon ranked 31st out of 50 states. Cattle and calves, milk from cows, and poultry and eggs combined for the majority of livestock sales (94%).
Cattle and calves made up 57% of Oregon livestock sales in 2022 with sales of $1.2 billion. Morrow County led the herd in this segment, bringing in $310 million for 25% of Oregon’s total. Morrow County ranked 41st nationally and was in top 2% of counties nationally. Malheur County’s sales of $290 million were 24% of Oregon cattle and calf sales, also in the top 2% of all counties. With sales of $62 million Harney County ranked third, contributing 5% of Oregon sales. Lake and Umatilla’s sales of $56 million placed them in fourth and fifth position, each contributing about 5% of Oregon’s cattle and calves sales.
Oregon’s milk from cows sales were $558 million in 2022, representing 26% of livestock sales. The state ranked 31st in the U.S. for this sales segment. Morrow County was the top producer out of 27 counties and was in the top 4% of counties producing milk nationwide. Tillamook County’s sales of $126 million represented 23% of total sales while ranking 96th nationally in the top 6% of counties. Marion County’s sales of $50 million were about 9% of Oregon’s total, ringing in at the third spot. Yamhill County in fourth position contributed $26 million in sales, 5% of total sales.
The market value of poultry and eggs totaled $228 million, representing 11% of Oregon livestock sales while ranking 31st nationally. Clackamas County led the state with $90 million in sales or about 40% of the statewide total. Nationally, Clackamas ranked 227th and was in the top 8% of counties. Marion came in second place with $50 million in sales, roughly 22% of Oregon’s total. Linn County’s $41 million and Yamhill County’s $26 million were the third and fourth spots for 18% and 12% of sales, respectively.
The 2022 Census of Agriculture provides finer details on the ‘All other animals and animal products’ category from the 2017 report. This category has now been separated into:
- Hogs and pigs
- Sheep, goats, wool, mohair, milk
- Horses, ponies, mules, burros, donkeys
- Aquaculture
- Other animals and animal products
These five segments accounted for the remaining 6% of Oregon livestock sales at $117 million.
Farm Production and Value
Farms with agricultural product sales of $500,000 or more represented 6% of Oregon’s farms in 2022. This is an increase of 1% from the 2017 report. With sales of $5.9 billion, these farms commanded 85% of all sales. Smaller farms generating $1,000 or less in sales represented 25% of producers (8,779) with sales of $1.6 million or 0.2% of total sales. Operations with sales in the $100,000 to $500,000 range represented 8% of farms (2,917), generating $693 million or 10% of total sales.
The estimated market value of farmland and buildings was $56 billion in 2022. This is an increase of roughly 45% from 2017’s $38 billion. About 13,000 Oregon farms were valued in the $500,000 to $999,999 range, 36% of all farms. About one out of three farms (31%) were valued at $1 million or more, accounting for 24% of Oregon’s farmland and buildings value. Farms with sales of $1,000 to $2,499 had the highest value per acre – $20,978 per acre.
Government Payments
Ten percent of Oregon’s 34,547 farms (3,596) received payments from the government in 2022. These payments totaled $136 million or roughly $37,855 per farm, an increase of 47% from 2017. About $0.85 cents of every dollar the government paid went to farms with sales of $100,000 or more. Nearly half of the government payments (48%) went to 1,713 farms with $100,000 or more in sales.
Umatilla County led the state in 2022, receiving $18 million from the federal government. The share of farms receiving payments was modest (26%) relative to other counties. In Sherman County 77% of farms received government payments, the highest share of farms receiving payments. The average amount received was $49,000. The average farm size in Sherman County was 2,327 acres, with wheat for grain being the top crop in acreage. On an average payment per farm basis Harney County received roughly $92,000 per farm, the highest out of 36 counties. Harney’s average farm size was 3,102 acres. Much of Harney’s farmland is used for forage including hay and haylage. The five counties receiving the bulk of payments – Umatilla, Harney, Morrow, Wasco, and Malheur – accounted for $60 million or 44% of government payments.
Farm Producer Demographics & Hired Farm Labor
The 2022 Census of Agriculture designates a producer as a person who is involved in making decisions for the farm operation. Decisions here are defined as those pertaining to planting, harvesting, livestock management, and marketing. The producer may be the owner, a member of the owner’s household, a hired manager, a tenant, a renter, or a sharecropper.
Oregon had 70,501 producers in 2022. Of all producers 39,385 were male (56%) and 31,116 were female (44%). Clackamas County had the greatest quantity of producers at 8,048 (12%).
A principal producer is a producer who indicated they were a principal operator. A farm can have multiple principal producers. Each farm has at least one principal producer. There were 68,564 principal producers in 2022 with 56% of them being male (38,414) and 44% female (30,150). Two out of five producers (42%) noted their primary occupation was farming while the other 58% spent the majority of their time off the farm, spending less than 50% of his/her work time during 2022 farming or ranching.
The majority of principal producers – 56,602 or 83% – lived on the farm. They spent an average of 19.8 years on the farm they were currently working and 68% of them had spent 11 years or more operating any farm. Principal producers in Sherman County spent an average of 27.2 years at the same farm. Deschutes County had the lowest average age of producers working at the same farm with 15.3 years.
The average age of farm producers in Oregon in 2022 was 58.6 years. By age group, producers ages 65 to 74 led the state, representing about one out of four principal farm producers. The 55 to 64 age group followed closely with 24% of producers falling in this category. Producers in the 35 to 44 years and 75 years and over ranges had an equal share of the workforce (12%). Farmers age 55 and older totaled 43,759 for 64% of Oregon’s principal farm producers. The average of a principal producer in Sherman County was 63.7 years while in Crook County it was 56.4 years.
Oregon farms and ranches hired 72,040 farm laborers in 2022, paying $1.3 billion in wages. Operations with 10 or more workers employed 71% of all hired farm laborers. Three out of five workers (59%) were hired for less than 150 days during the course of the year.
Where to Look for 2022 Census of Agriculture Publications
The 2022 Census of Agriculture provides far more information about farms and farm operators than can be presented in the course of this article. County profiles are available for each of Oregon’s 36 counties, along with a statewide summary, at the USDA’s Census of Agriculture.
Details by county include the number of farms, land in farms, market value of products sold, and government payments, along with economic and producer characteristics.