The "real" cash value of Florida's agriculture refers to trends which 

 have been adjusted for overall inflation in the economy. Production has 

 expanded (Table 5), real prices have fallen, and the real value of production 

 has increased. Although the increase in farm prices did not keep pace with 

 inflation, the expansion in production offset the declining real prices 

 resulting in a rise in the real value of agricultural production. The strong 

 demand for Florida's agricultural products coupled with rising productivity 

 has increased employment in Florida. Although production has increased, the 

 number of farms and farmland has declined. A detailed analysis of this change 

 is reported later in this report. The number of farms from 1954 to 1979 

 decreased from 57,543 to 35,100 (39%), and the land area in farms declined 

 from 18.1 million acres to 13.4 million acres (26%). These acreages include 

 cropland, pasture, woodland, and other noncul tivated land. In 1954-78, the 

 area of cropland increased 32.9%, whereas the area of pasture and woodlands 

 fell 69.4% (Table 6). Acreage in crops has fallen for corn, cotton, eggplant, 

 oats, peanuts, strawberries, tobacco, tomatoes and others, and has increased 

 for celery, sweetcorn, escarole, green peppers, and lettuce. The decline in 

 agricultural land area in Florida can best be explained by considering other 

 factors of production such as capital, labor, fertilizer, and energy. The 

 increased demand for land was brought about primarily by the great increase in 

 population and its attendant needs, which has raised the opportunity cost of 

 holding land. Opportunity cost is value of the best potential rent or revenue 

 foregone by not renting or selling farmland. Because the price of land has 

 risen faster than wages and the cost of capital, farms used less land and more 

 labor and capital. For example, in 1975-79 land and building prices rose 

 53.6%, machinery prices rose 46.6%, and wages rose 38% (for the trend in these 

 prices see Table 10). 



Table 5. Percentage change of agricultural commodity production from 1954 to 

 1978 (Florida Crop and Livestock Reporting Service. Annual field and crop 

 summaries 1967-78, and Vegetable summaries, 1954, 1960-80). 



Commodity 



Percentage 

 decrease 



Commodi ty 



Percentage 

 increase 



Soybeans 2,658 



Sugarcane 650 



Peanuts 260 



Tomatoes 237 



Corn (grain and feed) 227 



Milk 144 



Sweetcorn 141 



Green peppers 109 



Oranges 91 



94 



