The number of US wheat farms has declined markedly over the past two decades, with those producing durum and spring wheat seeing the sharpest declines.
According to the latest monthly USDA Wheat Outlook, the 2022 Census of Agriculture pegged the total number of American farms producing wheat in 2022 at just over 97,000, down by about 7% from the 2017 census and a fall of more than 40% from 2002.
Farms producing durum saw the largest percentage reduction, down nearly 30% from the 2017 Census and a major 60% below 2002. The next largest reduction was in other spring wheat farms with a 14% reduction from 2017 and a 43% fall from 2002.
The drop in wheat-producing farms has also not only resulted in slightly less production but also fewer harvested acres, something the Wheat Outlook attributed to wheat becoming more of rotational crop that farmers are sprinkling into their more profitable corn and soybean rotations.
Indeed, commodity cost and return estimates from the USDA’s Economic Research Service show the value of wheat production less operating cost - which is a measure of profitability - increased to $185.26/acre from $101.72 in 2017, an 82% gain.
However, the same measure of profitability for corn more than doubled over the same period to $654.46/acre from $273.77, more than three times that of wheat. The value of production for soybeans has also grown, jumping to $441.53 from $296.64.
Additional factors behind the decline in wheat acres include changing farming practices, the development of corn and soybean seed varieties that are more conducive to growing conditions in areas traditionally planted to wheat, and other technological developments, the Wheat Outlook said.
Just eight states accounted for 54% of the total number of US wheat farms in 2022, with the No. 1 production state of Kansas alone accounting for 15% or 14,520 farms. Kansas was followed by North Dakota and Ohio with 8,053 and 7,604 total operations, respectively.
Kansas saw a 7% reduction in the number of farms in 2022 compared with the 2017 Census of Agriculture, while Texas and Oklahoma had the largest decreases in the total number of farms that produced wheat, down 25% and 21%, respectively (see map below).
