Change in Number of Farms 1997-2002 by Region
Overview
The 2002 Census of Agriculture reported that the number of farms in Missouri declined from 110,986 in 1997 to 106,797 in 2002 - a decline of 4,189. The Census reports that the number of farms declined from 1997-2002 in 88 of the 114 counties 1.
| Map 1 click map for larger version 
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Map 1 shows that 13 of the 26 counties having an increase in number of farms from 1997-2002 were either in, or adjacent to, the Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia or Springfield metro areas. The remaining counties gaining farms were located in rural north Missouri and in the Southeast Ozarks. Generally, the counties gaining farms had increases of less than 2 percent. Only in Harrison, Livingston, Gentry, Reynolds and Ralls counties were the increases greater than five percent.
Map 1 also shows that there were 16 counties in which decline of farm numbers was greater than 10 percent. The greatest concentration of loss was in eight counties in the vicinity of the Bootheel in the Southeast Region. There were an additional 33 counties in which the number of farms declined by between 5 and 10 percent.
Table 1 shows the number of farms in each Missouri county in 1997 and in 2002 along with the gain or loss in number of farms for each county.
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OSEDA Regional Grouping of Counties Many demographic factors vary by region within the state of Missouri. For the convenience of our user community, OSEDA prepares tables using three different regional groupings of counties: Extension, Economic Development and Transportation. For each of these groupings, one table summarizes the indicators by regional total and a second table shows values for each county grouped by region. Users may select the county grouping most helpful for their application and understanding. |
Change in Farms by Region
UM Extension Region
Table 2 shows that only the Northwest Region had an increase in farms from 1997-2002 and that increase was only 0.1 percent. Conversely, the greatest percent loss in number of farms occurred in the Southeast Region. The greatest rate of decline in that region occurred in Pemiscot and New Madrid counties each having a decline of 22 percent - see Table 3.
Generally, the decline in numbers of farms was greater in the four southern regions than in the four north regions.
Department of Economic Development (DED) Regions
Table 4 shows the greatest loss of farms to be in the DED Bootheel Region. That region had a decline of 12.9 percent in number of farms from 1997 to 2002. The decline was greater than 10 percent in eight of the 10 counties in that region.
Following the Bootheel there were four additional DED regions that had a loss of 5 percent or more in number of farms. Those regions include Kansas City MSA (-5.2 percent), Lake Ozark Rolla (-5.7 percent), South Central (7.6 percent) and West Central (-5.0 percent). There were some counties in those regions that had unusually large losses including Dent County - 15.6 percent and Douglas County - 15.2 percent. There were also three counties in the Kansas City MSA with large losses including Jackson County -11.7 percent, Platte County - 9.2 percent and Clay County - 9.1 percent. Most likely those losses were a result of previous farmland being converted to suburban housing developments.
There were six regions in which the decline in farm numbers was less than 2 percent. Those regions included all three in north Missouri as well as the Central, St. Louis MSA and the Lower East Central-Cape Regions.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) Districts
Table 5 shows the greatest loss of farms to be in the Sikeston District that had a loss of 7.8 percent. Following that there were four districts that had a decline ranging from 4.5 to 5.7 percent. Those districts include: the Springfield District - 5.7 percent, the Willow Springs District with a loss of 5.3 percent, the Joplin District with a loss of 4.9 percent and the Kansas City District with a loss of 4.5 percent.
The three districts in north Missouri, St. Joseph, Macon and Hannibal had virtually no decline.
Regional Planning Commission (RPCs) Areas
Table 6 shows that of the 19 Regional Planning Commission Areas there was one, the Bootheel RPC, which experienced a 15.9 percent decline in number of farms from 1997-2002. After that there were five RPC areas that experienced a loss of farms of between 7.6 percent and 5.1 percent. In order of their loss of these RPCs were South Central Ozarks Council of Governments (-7.6 percent), the Harry Truman Coordinating Council (- 6.6 percent), the Mid-America RPC (-6.3 percent), the Ozark Foothills RPC (-5.2 percent) and the Lake of Ozarks Council of Local Governments (- 5.1 percent).
The Green Hills RPC and the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments had a small gain in farms of 12 and 20 respectively.
1 A Technical Adjustment in Number of Farms 1997-2002.
The 1997 Census of Agriculture reported Missouri having 98,860 farms in 1997. That is 12,126 fewer farms than was reported for 1997 in the 2002 Census of Agriculture During the interstitial period between the 1997 and 2002 Agricultural Census a geographic analysis of Missouri and other states led to a conclusion that more rural land should be classified as being "farms". Geographic surveys and photography were showing open country land people were living on but had not been counted as farms. Accordingly, it was found that in Missouri there was sufficient unclassified land that persons who could meet the definition of being farmers occupied 12,126 of those places. Therefore, the original report of 98,860 Missouri farms in 1997 was adjusted to 110,986 farms in 1997. That then became the benchmark for assessing the change in number of Missouri farms by 2002.
| Detailed Tables of Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 | ||
The following links provide detailed tables of Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002. They are available in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat(PDF) formats. Missouri Summary |
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All Missouri Counties |
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| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By County with State Totals | HTML | |
| Regional Tables | ||
| UO/E Regions | ||
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Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By UM Extension Region |
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| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By County Within UM Extension Region | HTML | |
| DED Regions | ||
| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By DED Region | HTML | |
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Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By County Within DED Region |
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| MoDOT Regions | ||
| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By DOT District | HTML | |
| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By County Within DOT District | HTML | |
| RPC Regions | ||
| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By RPC | HTML | |
| Number of Missouri Farms with Change and Percent Change, 1997-2002 - By County Within RPC | HTML | |
This file last modified Thursday May 07, 2009, 16:03:44
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