Oregon is reporting a smaller number of farms, a larger average size of farms, and an older average age of farmer and rancher, according to preliminary data from the 2012 Census of Agriculture just released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). The process of collecting and tabulating information from the nation’s farmers and ranchers has been completed. A quick look at the figures shows that Oregon is generally following the trend seen throughout the rest of the nation in many areas. The number of farms in Oregon is 35,439, down 8.1 percent from 2007 when there were 38,523 farms reported. Going back 10 years, there has been an 11.4 percent drop in the number of Oregon farms.
