Economic and Marketing Information
FOR INDIANA  FARMERS
Prepared by the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana  
March 31, 1967
by Lee F. Schrader and T. Kelley White, Agricultural Economics
Indiana farms are getting larger and
smaller—larger in size and smaller in
number. The number of farms decreased from 128,160 in 1959 to 108,082
in 1964 while average size increased
from 145.2 to 165.9 acres in the same
period. Continuation of the trends to
smaller numbers of larger units is the
theme of the story told by the 1964
Census of Agriculture released late in
1966.
The Census of Agriculture was taken
in the Fall of 1964. Data on production and sales of crops refer generally
to the crops harvested during 1964 regardless of the date of sales.
The Census definition of a farm includes places of less than 10 acres if
the sales of agricultural products for
the year amounted to at least $250.
Places of 10 or more acres qualify if
the estimated sales of agricultural
products amounted to at least $50.
Thus, the Census definition includes
as farms many operations which are
by no means a part of "commercial
agriculture."
With the already mentioned changes
in number and size of farms came a
slight reduction in total acreage in
farms. This has been due to increased
use of land for residential, industrial,
roads, parks and other non-farm uses.
The most striking example of this effect is in Monroe County where the
number of farms declined 46% and the
amount of land in farms declined 33%
due largely to the creation of the Monroe Reservoir.
* The data series discussed as well as others
from the 1964 Census of Agriculture are presented by county for the State of Indiana in
Indiana Agriculture 1959 and 1964—A Census
Comparison ,EC-3I1, which is available upon
request from your county agent or from Agricultural Publications, A E S Building, Purdue
University, Lafayette, Indiana, 47907.
Value of land and buildings averaged $265 per acre in 1959 and $314
in 1964, an increase of 18.8%. Values
increased 70% in Brown County and,
according to the Census, declined 6%
in Fayette County. Real estate value
has increased more since 1964 than
from 1959 to 1964.
In 1964, 30% of Indiana farms were
classed as part-time or part-retirement
farms. Part-time farms are farms with
sales of $50 to $2,499 for which the
operator works off the farm for 100
days or more. Part-retirement farms
are farms with sales of $50 to $2,499
for which the operator is over 65 years
of age. In 1959, 35% of farms were in
the part-time or part-retirement class;
however, since the definition includes
only farms with less than $2,500 gross
sales, it is probable that many part-
time farms will be classified as commercial. In fact, 39% ol farm operators worked off the farm 100 or more
clays in 1964 and 36% did so in 1959.
Only 15% of Indiana farms were
operated by tenants in 1964 down from
18% in 1951. In general, tenancy rates
are higher in the northwest and west
central with a high of 48% in Benton
County and lower in the south with
2% in Crawford County.
Indiana farms hired more regular
labor (employed 150 days or more) in
1964 than in 1959 and regular labor
was used on more farms in 1964.
Thirty-one percent of the farms in
1964 had sales of $10,000 or more
whereas in 1959 only 23% were so
classified.    In   general,   the   southern
Table 1. Selected livestock and poultry statistics—Indiana 1959 and 1964
Farm Commodity
1964
1959
Percent
change
Cattle and calves
farms reporting
70,635
87,809
—19.6%
Cattle (excl. calves)
sold alive
752,126
708,791
6.1
farms selling
45,193
56,198
—19.6
sold per farm
16.6
12.6
32.0
Hogs and pigs
farms reporting
48,177
74,377
—35.2
number sold
7,512,800
7,422,900
1.2
farms selling
48,295
71,241
—32.2
sold per farm
155.6
104.2
49.3
Milk cows
farms reporting
25,720
48,149
—46.6
number of cows
328,065
411,273
—20.2
Milk and cream sold (mil. lbs.)
2,676
2,615
2.3
Eggs
farms selling
18,341
43,999
—58.3
eggs sold (mil. doz.)
184.6
137.1
34.6
Turkeys
farms raising
708
1,144
—38.1
number raised (thousand)
4,822
3.350
43.9
Broilers
farms selling
573
number sold (thousand)
20,970
Sheep and lambs
number of farms reporting
13,211
19,745
—33.1