Fewer farms and higher yields per cow: the trends in the U.S.

The number of farms in the United States continues to shrink, while the farm size is becoming larger.

The number of farms in the United States for 2018 is 2,029,200, down 12,800 farms from 2017 and down 70,100 from 2013.

Analyzing the data collected by the Department of Agriculture of the United States of America (USDA) it also comes to light that the average Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) increased between 2017 and 2018, reaching 443 acres (179 hectares). The average UAA increased between 2012 and 2015, then it remain stable in 2016 and 2017.

This scenario of fewer farms and higher UAA is common to all regions of the USA: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, South Central, Southwest, Northwest, Alaska, Hawaii.

The number of dairy cows also decreased: 9,329,300 cows in the April-June 2019 quarter, 88,700 down from the same quarter in 2018.
In the 24 major States *, from January to June 2019 the reduction was 27,000 heads (June 2019: 8,778,000 dairy cows).

The milk production per cow in the 24 major States was higher than in the previous year in each month of the first half of 2019, and in June 2019 it was 1.985 pounds per month (about 30 kg per day) per head.

Also in 2018 the milk production per cow was higher in comparison with the previous year.

* the 24 major States are: Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota, Illinois, California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Georgia, Virginia.