Farming in Coos Co., June 12

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture releases the most comprehensive farming statistics every five years within the Census of Agriculture.  The report provides a detailed look at county-level agriculture ranging from market value of agricultural products to demographic traits of farm operators.  Coos County had 654 farms in 2012.  That’s down from the 746 in 2007.  However, farm acreage increased from 145,675 in 2007, to 157,496 in 2012.   Coos Co. leads the state in cranberry production with 100 farms and 1,901 acres.  Organic sales in the county went from 32 farms with $9.2 million in sales in 2007 to 11 farms and $9.6 million in 2012.  In 2012, there were 236 farms in Coos County with 1,226 workers, that’s up from the 220 farms in 2007 that hired 787 workers