The average size of farms in the United States has seen a steady increase over the last decade. In 2024, the average farm size reached 466 acres, up from 418 acres in 2007. Between 2006 and 2007 there was a sudden drop in average farm size, but in recent years it has recovered and once again reached the same levels as its peak in 2006. Agriculture in the United States In 2023, there were about 1.9 million farms in the United States, down from 2.2 million in 2007. It appears that as average farm size has increased, the number of individual farms in the United States has decreased. Texas is home to the highest number of farms of any U.S. state, with 231,000 farms as of 2023. Major crops in the United States The United States produces a wide variety of crops. Though the production volumes of some major crops, such as wheat, have fluctuated considerably since 2000, the production of vegetables for processing has been on the rise in recent years. Grapes, apples, and oranges are the most produced fruits in the United States, with the majority of grapes being grown in California.

Value of farmland and buildings per acre, for Canada and the provinces at July 1 (in dollars).

Average costs and sales per acre from implementation of GAPs food safety practices by farm size.

Estimated areas, production, yield, average farm price and total farm value of principal field crops.

Descriptions Excel Application Tool for Statewide Agricultural Water Use Data 2016 - 2020 Department of water resources, Water Use Efficiency Branch, Water Use Unit program, has developed an Excel application tool, which calculates annual estimates of irrigated crop area (ICA), crop evapotranspiration (ETc), effective precipitation (Ep), evapotranspiration of applied water (ETaw), consumed fraction (CF), and applied water (AW) for 20 crop categories by combinations of detailed analysis unit and county (DAUCo) over California. The 2016 – 2020 statewide agricultural water use data were developed by all 4 DWR’s Regional Offices (Northern Region Office, North Central Region Office, South Central Region Office, and Southern Region Office) using Cal_simetaw model for updating the information in the California Water Plan Updates-2023. Therefore, this current Excel application tool just covers agricultural water use data from the period of 2016 - 2020 water years. It should also be mentioned that there are 3 other similar Excel applications that cover 1998 - 2005 and 2006 – 2010, & 2011 - 2015 agricultural water use data for the California Water plan Updates 2005/2009, 2013, and 2018 respectively. Outputs data provided from this Excel application include ICA in acres, EP, both in unit values (Acre feet per acre) & volume (acre feet), ETc both in unit values (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet), ETaw, both in unit value (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet), AW, both in unit value (acre feet per acre) & volume (acre feet), CF (in percentage %) for WYs 2016 – 2020 at Detailed Analysis Unit by County (DAUCO), Detailed Analysis Unit (DAU), County, Planning Area (PA), Hydrological Region (HR), and Statewide spatial scales using the dropdown menu. Furthermore, throughout the whole process numerous computations and aggregation equations in various worksheets are included in this Excel application. And for obvious reasons all worksheets in this Excel application are hidden and password protected. So, accidentally they won’t be tampered with or changed/revised.

Following are definitions of terminology and listing of 20 crop categories used in this Excel application.

1. Study Area Maps
   The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) subdivided California into study areas for planning purposes. The largest study areas are the ten hydrologic regions (HR),
   The next level of delineation is the planning area (PAS), which are composed of multiple detailed analysis units (DAU). The DAUs are often split by county boundaries, so the smallest study areas used by DWR is DAU/County. Many planning studies begin at the Dau or PA level, and the results are aggregated into hydrologic regions for presentation.

2. Irrigated Crop Area (ICA) in acres
   The total amount of land irrigated for the purpose of growing a crop (includes multi-cropping acres)

3- Multi-cropping (MC) in acres
A section of land that has more than one crop grown on it in a year, this included one crop being planted more than once in a season in the same field.
Please note that there are no double cropping acreages for 2017. Because on a normal year when Regional Offices (RO) receive data from Land IQ, they were able to provide double cropping acreages. Since the 2017 land use data was derived from average crop acres between water years 2016 and 2018,2019, & 2020, they lost spatial and temporal data necessary to calculate double cropping.

1. Evapotranspiration (ET)
   Combination of soil evaporation and transpiration is referred to as evapotranspiration or ET. The rate of evapotranspiration from the plant-soil environment is primarily dependent on the energy available from solar radiation but is also dependent on relative humidity, temperature, cloud cover, and wind speed. It is an indication for how much your crops, lawn, garden, and trees need for healthy growth and productivity.

2. Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo)
   Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is an estimate of the evapotranspiration of a 10-15 cm tall cool season grass and not lacking for water. The daily Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration for short canopies is calculated using the Penman-Monteith (PM) equation (Monteith, 1965) as presented in the United Nations FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper (FAO 56) by Allen et al. (1988).

3. Penman-Monteith Equation (PM)
   Equation is used to estimate ETo when daily solar radiation, maximum and minimum air temperature, dew point temperature, and wind speed data are available. It is recommended by both the America Society of Civil Engineers and United Nations FAO for estimating ETo.

4. Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc), both in unit value (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet)
   Commonly known as potential evapotranspiration, which is the amount of water used by plants in transpiration and evaporation of water from adjacent plants and soil surfaces during a specific time period. ETc is computed
   as the product of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and a crop coefficient (Kc) value, i.e., ETc = ETo x Kc.
   One Acre foot equals about 325851 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land about the size of a football field, one foot deep.

5. Crop Coefficient (Kc)
   Relates ET of a given crop at a specific time in its growth stage to a reference ET. Incorporates effects of crop growth state, crop density, and other cultural factors affecting ET. The reference condition has been termed "potential" and relates to grass. The main sources of Kc information are the FAO 24 (Doorenbos and Pruitt 1977) and FAO 56 (Allen et al. 1988) papers on evapotranspiration.

6. Effective Precipitation (Ep), both in unit value (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet)
   Fraction of rainfall effectively used by a crop, rather than mobilized as runoff or deep percolation

7. Evapotranspiration of Applied Water (ETaw), both in unit value (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet)
   Net amount of irrigation water needed to produce a crop (not including irrigation application efficiency). Soil characteristic data and crop information with precipitation and ETc data are used to generate hypothetical water balance irrigation schedules to determine ETaw.

8. Applied Water (AW), both in unit value (acre feet per acre), & volume (acre feet)
   Estimated as the ETaw divided by the mean seasonal irrigation system application efficiency.

9. Consumed Fraction (CF) in percentage (%)
   An estimate of how irrigation water is efficiently applied on fields to meet crop water, frost protection, and leaching requirements for a whole season or full year.

10. Crop category numbers and descriptions
    Crop Category Crop category description.

1 Grain (wheat, wheat_winter, wheat_spring, barley, oats, misc._grain & hay)
2 Rice (rice, rice_wild, rice_flooded, rice-upland)
3 Cotton
4 Sugar beet (sugar-beet, sugar_beet_late, sugar_beet_early)
5 Corn
6 Dry beans
7 Safflower
8 Other field crops (flax, hops, grain_sorghum, sudan,castor-beans, misc._field, sunflower, sorghum/sudan_hybrid, millet, sugarcane
9 Alfalfa (alfalfa, alfalfa_mixtures, alfalfa_cut, alfalfa_annual)
10 Pasture (pasture, clover, pasture_mixed, pasture_native, misc._grasses, turf_farm, pasture_bermuda, pasture_rye, klein_grass, pasture_fescue)
11 Tomato processing (tomato_processing, tomato_processing_drip, tomato_processing_sfc)
12 Tomato fresh (tomato_fresh, tomato_fresh_drip, tomato_fresh_sfc)
13 Cucurbits (cucurbits, melons, squash, cucumbers, cucumbers_fresh_market, cucumbers_machine-harvest, watermelon)
14 Onion & garlic (onion & garlic, onions, onions_dry, onions_green, garlic)
15 Potatoes (potatoes, potatoes_sweet)
16 Truck_Crops_misc (artichokes, truck_crops, asparagus, beans_green, carrots, celery, lettuce, peas, spinach, bus h_berries, strawberries, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower)
17 Almond & pistachios
18 Other Deciduous (apples, apricots, walnuts, cherries, peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, prunes, figs, kiwis)
19 Citrus & subtropical (grapefruit, lemons, oranges, dates, avocados, olives, jojoba)
20 Vineyards (grape_table, grape_raisin, grape_wine)

This statistic shows the yield of wheat per harvested acre in the United States from 2001 to 2024. According to the report, the U.S. wheat yield per harvested acre amounted to about 51.2 bushels in 2024. Though the wheat yield is still down from 51.7 bushels in 2019, yield increased by over four bushels per acre from 2021 to 2023.

Wheat is one of the most important crops produced in Australia. In financial year 2024, the yield of this winter crop was estimated at *** metric tons per hectare, a notable year-on-year decrease. According to the source, the yield was forecast to increase in 2025. The role of wheat Wheat is grown primarily in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia. Production of wheat in the country has recovered recently, despite a decline in 2024. Both bread wheat and durum wheat are used to produce wheat-based food consumed within the country. Wheat is Australia’s second-largest agriculture export commodity and one of its highest value crops. Most of the wheat produced in Australia was exported to countries within Asia and the Middle East. Challenges to growth Drought has impacted grain production across the country, with the area of land for wheat production dropping to a low in 2020. In 2019, the country imported wheat for the domestic market for the first time in 12 years. This raised biosecurity concerns among grain growers, who were worried about the potential for new weeds or diseases to be introduced. However, a shortfall in high-protein wheat can negatively impact domestic dairy farmers, who require bulk grain for their livestock. Nevertheless, the area for wheat production has since recovered.