The average age of the American farmer is 58.1 years old, and nearly 40% of producers in the United States are age 65 or older, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2022 Census of Agriculture released Feb. 13.
Surprising? No.
The census also reveals the United States is losing farms – about 7.5% since 2017, when the last ag census was completed. America now has about 1.9 million farms, a loss of 142,000 farms in five years. North Dakota is slightly behind the national trend. From 2017 to 2022, North Dakota lost 5% of its farms, with 25,068 farms remainin