It's Here: First U.S. Census of Agriculture Since 2012

And AgWeb is all over it.
First up:

Ag Census: Crop Revenues Down 9% From 2012 

While 2017 brought farmers the highest corn yields on record—176.6 bu. per acre—it didn’t bring the increased revenue for which producers hoped. Instead, total crop revenue for the country was $194 billion, 9% lower than the census five years earlier and lower than livestock revenue.

“We are pleased to deliver Census of Agriculture Results to America, and especially to the farmers and ranchers who participated,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “We can all use the Census to tell the tremendous story of U.S. agriculture and how it is changing.”

The 2017 census showed corn second to cattle and calves in commodity earnings, coming in at $51.2 billion. Iowa took top honors for production. Soybeans came in forth in commodity value at $40.3 billion, with Illinois taking top spot in production.

Farmers spent $83.2 billion on cash rent, chemicals, fertilizer and seed alone in 2017. On-farm income dropped 2% from 2012 to $43,053.

Acres harvested: 2012 vs. 2017

Corn
2012-87,413,045
2017-84,738,562
Down 3.05%

...MUCH MORE

And:

Ag Census: Total Number Of U.S. Farms Declines 3%

The total number of farms in the United States declined 3% from 2012 to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 Census of Agriculture released Thursday, April 11. Since the 1997 Census of Agriculture, the number of farms in the U.S. has declined 7.8%.

The total number of farms on Dec. 31, 2017, was calculated at 2,042,220, which was 67,110 fewer than reported in the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) with information directly from farmers and ranchers. Overall, USDA said there continue to be more of the largest and smallest operations and fewer middle-sized farms. The average age of all farmers and ranchers continues to rise.

NASS found the average size of farms in 2017 was 441 acres, up slightly from 434 acres in 2012. However, the total number of land in farms in 2017 was down 1.5%, totaling slightly more than 900 million acres.
The number of farms with cropland declined 5% from 2012 to 2017, yet the number of acres farmed in crops increased 1.7% to 396.4 million acres.

While NASS found the overall number of farmers declined, the declines occurred among mid-sized farms. Both the smallest sized farms (less than 9 acres) and the largest farms (2,000 acres of more), showed increases. Farms with fewer than 9 acres (273,325 farms) increased by 18% since the 2012 census, and farms with more than 2,000 acres (85,127) increased 3.5%....MUCH MORE

And from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

(WASHINGTON, D.C., April 11, 2019) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the results of the 2017 Census of Agriculture, spanning some 6.4 million new points of information about America’s farms and ranches and those who operate them, including new data about on-farm decision making, down to the county level. Information collected by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) directly from farmers and ranchers tells us both farm numbers and land in farms have ongoing small percentage declines since the last Census in 2012. At the same time, there continue to be more of the largest and smallest operations and fewer middle-sized farms. The average age of all farmers and ranchers continues to rise....

...MORE

And the NASS homepage.