FARM NUMBERS, SIZE, AND VALUE 



The trend in agriculture is towards fewer and larger farms. There were 

 about 5,011 farms and ranches in Northwest Florida in 1954, (about 8.7% of the 

 State's agricultural area). Their combined area was 442,491, acres about 3.3% 

 of the total agricultural acreage in Northwest Florida. Forested lands and 

 farmland combined total 3,257,382 acres or 47.8% of Northwest Florida's land 

 area. The number of farms decreased from 5,011 to 1,952 in 1954-74, but in- 

 creased to 2,026 in 1978 (Table 7). The decline in farms from 1954-78 was 

 59%. From 1954 to 1978, the area of forested lands declined less then 3%. 



The number of farms and farm area (Table 9) declined faster in Northwest 

 Florida than in the State. Northwest Florida accounted for 8.7% of the farms 

 and 3.6% of the farm land in Florida in 1954, but only 5.4% in 1978. All 

 counties reported a decrease in the number of farms and all but Gulf County 

 showed a decrease in farm acreage. The declines can be attributed to a change 

 in the definition of a farm for reporting, economic factors and the loss of 

 prominence of cotton and tobacco, major area crops. Since 1974 the Bureau of 

 the Census has defined a farm as any place with sales of at least $1,000 in 

 agricultural products in the previous year. Prior to 1974, a farm was defined 

 as any place of less than 10 acres or more with sales of at least $50 the 

 previous year, or any place of less than 10 acres with at least $250 sales in 

 the previous year. This change in definition undoubtably causes problems of 

 interpretation of differences, yet the trends seem to be reasonably clear. 



The average farm in Northwest Florida is and has been smaller than the 

 average Florida farm (Table 8). Region farms primarily are small family oper- 

 ations which have been handed down for generations. In 1954, the average farm 

 was 132 acres in Northwest Florida and 316 for the State. By 1978, the aver- 

 age acreage in Northwest Florida declined 66% to 218 acres, the State average 

 dropped to 304 acres (3.6%). 



For socioeconomic purposes, the composition of annual farm sales or sale 

 receipts is highly useful (Table 9). Although the acreage between the regions 

 and States is widely different, the percentage of farms in the same income 

 categories are remarkably similar. 



In the 1954-78, the value of farms (land and buildings) also increased. 

 In current dollars the 1978 value of the Northwest Florida farms was $326.6 

 million, 21% of the State total. The real value of farms in Northwest Florida 

 (1967 =100) rose about 76% from about 95.0 million in 1969 to 167.3 million in 

 1978. The value of land is determined, as in most other commodities, by 

 supply and demand. Since the supply of farmland is relatively fixed, the 

 demand for land for urbanization, recreation, phosphate mining, industrializa- 

 tion, and farming are the major contributing factors to land value. 



Land to the farmer is a capital asset and a source of annual income. It 

 draws its value from the prospect of cultivation and future sale. The value 

 of a farm is equal to the NPV (net present value) of the future earnings from 

 cultivation. To the nonfarm user, land value is drawn from the development 

 potential, natural beauty, proximity to retail, commercial or service points, 

 and mineral deposits. The value to these users is the net present value of 

 the future earnings from farm and mineral products. 



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