By the numbers
The largest farms in Wisconsin have increased the share of the state’s agricultural land that they use in the past decade, and have increased their share of the state’s output of farm goods even more, according to federal statistics.
Large farms, those that have annual sales of over $1 million, use just over a third of Wisconsin farmland and deliver more than seven of every 10 dollars in output, according to the latest figures.
In 2022, a total of 3,238 farms with $1 million or more in sales produced 71 percent of the state’s farm output, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Survey’s census. That was an increase from 55 percent in 2017.
Their land footprint jumped from 3.5 million acres in 2012 to nearly 5 million acres in 2022.
The number of mid-sized farms, with sales between $100,000 and $1 million, which was over 15,000 in 2012, moved in the opposite direction, down to 12,537 in 2022. Their share of output slid to 25 percent in 2022, down from 41 percent in 2012. Their land share decreased down to 35 percent from about 42 percent five years earlier.
Small farms, those with less than $100,000 in sales and making up the numerical bulk of the state’s agriculture sector, have been dwindling as well. A total of more than 42,700 small farms produce just 4 percent of Wisconsin’s farm output—a steady decline from 52,200 farms producing 7 percent in 2012.
