Economic and Marketing Information                                                                                                                                                                                          FOR INDIANA  FARMERS
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana      
February  28,   1961
Results of
The 1959 Census Of Agriculture For Indiana
by E.  M.  BABB, Agricultural Economics
WHAT did the 1959 Census of Agriculture for
Indiana show? In one word—change. And the
adjustments in production, marketing and resource
use have been so profound that even those associated
with agriculture are apt to be startled. Of course,
rapid changes in the agricultural picture are not confined to Indiana. For the United States as a whole,
greater changes have taken place in agriculture during the last five years than during any other five-
year period on record.
Preliminary data from the 1959 Census of Agriculture have been published for Indiana counties.*
Only the major changes in Indiana's agriculture are
summarized here.
Number of Farms
The number of farm units in Indiana and the
United States declined from 1954 to 1959 as follows:
Ind.
But 5424 Indiana farms were dropped because of
the more restrictive definition of a farm used in
the 1959 census. Therefore, the actual decline was
only 13%. For the United States, 232,000 of the
1,079,000 decline in farm numbers was because of
the definition change. For both the United States
and Indiana, most of the decline in farm numbers
occurred on farms having fewer than 260 acres. In
fact, farms having 260 acres or more increased in
Indiana during the five-year period. Numbers of
farms under 10 acres declined 50% for both the
United States and Indiana. The decline in farm numbers is indicative of adjustments being made in
agriculture but does not indicate a sharp contraction
in the size  of the total agricultural plant.
Size of Farms
The average number of acres per farm increased
sharply during the five-year period as follows:
Percentage
1954
1959
Change
Ind.
125.2
145.2
+ 16
U.S.
242.2
302.4
+ 25
County data have been compiled in Mimeo EC-212, available on request
trom Agricultural Publications Office, A.E.S. Bldg., Purdue University,
Lafayette, Ind.
The average value of land and buildings per farm
increased as follows:
Ind.
U.   S.
1954
$25,300
20,405
1959
$40,000
33,242
Percentage
Change
+ 58
+ 63
The percentage increase in farm size was higher
for the United States than Indiana which largely
accounts for its greater percentage increase in farm
value. Inflation, a big factor in the increased farm
value was prevalent in both cases. In spite of increased farm size, fewer acres of land were devoted
to agriculture in 1959. The number of acres in farms
declined as follows:
Ind.
u. s.
1954
19,232,774
1,158,191,511
1959
18,614,046
1,120,088,729
Percentage
Change
-3
-3
About 6 million of the 38-million acre decline was
because of the census farm definition change. Retirement of land in the Soil Bank, expanded urban
areas, and new highways all reduced land in agriculture.
Substitution of Capital for Labor
The number of farm operators has declined during
the five-year period as follows:
Ind.
U.  S.
1954
139,211
4,142,352
1959
112,390
3,039,157
Percentage
Change
-19
-27
The number of hired farm workers has declined
as follows:
Ind.
U.   S.
1954
13,390
691,068
1959
10,470
688,879
Percentage
Change
-22
-   1
To offset the decline in the farm labor force,
greater investments in machinery and equipment
have been made. Increases in the number of farms
using specific pieces of equipment were observed.
Earning Power
The geography of gross earning power of Indiana
farm units in 1959 showed little change from 1954.
The higher income producing farm units tended to be
concentrated in the northern and central regions
of the state. Of the 83,930 Indiana farms classified
as commercial, about one-fourth had sales of $2500