2012 Census of Agriculture Highlights - Direct Sales

Highlights
Farmers Marketing

ACH12-7/August 2014

Direct sales through markets, roadside stands, and other means up 8 percent since 2007.

29 percent . . .
. . . of farms selling directly to
consumers specialized in vegetable, fruit, and nut farming in
2012, and 25 percent
specialized in beef.

Top States in Direct
Consumer Sales
($ millions)
California
New York
Pennsylvania
Michigan
Massachusetts
Wisconsin
Ohio
Washington
Oregon
Virginia

169.9
100.6
86.0
58.8
47.9
46.9
46.6
45.1
44.2
41.7

A small but growing number of farms and ranches are pursuing new ways to
market their products and connect to their communities. Their strategies include
selling agricultural products directly to consumers, marketing directly to retail
outlets, creating and selling a variety of value-added products, or promoting
visits to their operations.

Direct Sales to Consumers
Farmers sell fresh agricultural products directly to consumers in a variety of
ways – through farmers markets, roadside stands, pick-your-own operations,
community supported agriculture (CSA) arrangements, and other efforts.
Throughout the United States, 144,530 farms sold $1.3 billion in fresh edible
agricultural products directly to consumers in 2012. This was a 6 percent
increase in farms, and an 8 percent increase in sales, over 2007, the last time
the agriculture census was conducted.
Farms with direct sales to consumers were 6.9 percent of the nation’s 2.1 million
farms in 2012, but those sales accounted for only 0.3 percent of total agriculture
sales. Three states (California, New York, and Pennsylvania) accounted for 27
percent of direct
Average Value per Farm of Direct Sales to Consumers, by County, 2012
consumer sales.
The average
value of direct
consumer sales
U.S. Average = $9,063
per farm was
$9,063. Counties
with higher
average sales
were largely in
dollars
the Northeast
and California.
< 2,500
2,500 - 4,999
5,000 - 9,999
10,000 - 24,999
25,000 - 49,999
50,000 +

Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

www.agcensus.usda.gov
(800)727-9540
1

Farm Size. The majority of farms selling fresh edible
products directly to consumers are small. Three fourths
had annual sales of less than $5,000 in 2012, and together
accounted for 11 percent of total sales. The 3 percent of
farms with annual direct-to-consumer sales of $50,000 or
more accounted for 58 percent of the total.
Direct Agriculture Sales to Consumers, by Per Farm Sales, 2012
(number of farms and $ millions)
Per Farm Sales
$1-$499
$500-$999
$1,000-$4,999
$5,000-$9,999
$10,000-$24,999
$25,000-$49,999
$50,000 or more
Total

Farms
No.
37,398
20,170
52,750
14,452
11,045
4,244
4,471
144,530

%
26
14
36
10
8
3
3
100

Sales
$ millions
%
7.8
13.7
121.8
97.3
164.8
143.7
760.8
1,309.8

1
1
9
7
13
11
58
100

Note: Excludes craft items and processed products such as jellies, sausages, hams, cider, and wine.
Source: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Producer Characteristics. Nearly 70 percent of principal

operators who sold directly to consumers were established
producers who had 10 years of farming experience or
more; 73 percent were 45 years or older. Nearly 90 percent
lived on the farm, but 68 percent worked at least some
days off the farm and 42 percent did so 200 or more days
during the year. Of principal operators selling directly to
consumers, 18 percent were women. Women made up 14
percent of principal operators overall.

CSAs Connect Farms and Households
In a community supported agriculture arrangement, a
farmer or rancher delivers food to subscribers who purchase
shares in that season’s products. Such arrangements give
producers cash at the start of the season and a market for
their products. In turn, by participating in a CSA, subscribers
receive fresh food and have a connection with a farm in their
community.
Nationally, 12,617 farms sold fresh produce and other
products through a CSA in 2012. States with the largest
number of farms selling through a CSA were California (1,015
farms), Texas (590), North Carolina (579), New York (578),
and Pennsylvania (551).
Ten counties in the country had more than 50 CSAs; seven of
the ten counties were in northeastern states.

2

Direct Sales to Retailers
Nearly 50,000 farms in 2012 sold some or all of their products directly to retail outlets such as restaurants, grocery
stores, schools, hospitals, or other businesses that in turn
sold to consumers. Across the country, 2.3 percent of farms
sold their products
Top States in Direct Sales to Retailers
directly to retailers.
(percent of farms)
California had the
largest number of farms
Hawaii
18
Vermont
16
(4,432) with such sales,
Alaska
15
followed by Texas, New
Rhode Island
14
York, Pennsylvania, and
New
Hampshire
14
North Carolina. But
Massachusetts
13
Hawaii, Alaska, and
Maine
13
New England had the
Connecticut
10
the largest percentagNew York
7
New Jersey
7
es of farms with direct
sales to retailers. CaliSource: USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture.
fornia ranked eleventh.

Value-added Products
Farmers add value to their agricultural commodities when
they process them to produce items such as beef jerky, fruit
jams, jelly, preserves, floral arrangements, cider, wine, etc.
Nationally, 94,799 farms produced and sold value-added
products in 2012. States with the most farms doing so were
Texas (11,544 farms), California (4,281), Kentucky (4,117),
Missouri (3,926), and Oklahoma (3,815).
In the United States overall, the share of farms producing
and selling such products was 4.5 percent. The top states
in percent of farms were Vermont (14 percent), New Hampshire (13 percent), Maine (11 percent), Rhode Island (11
percent), and Alaska (10 percent).

Agritourism
Just over 33,000 farms offered agritourism and recreational
services such as farm or winery tours, hayrides, hunting,
fishing, and other such activities in 2012.

To learn more about farmers’ new marketing strategies,
the 2012 Census of Agriculture, and how to access
national, state, and county data, go to:

www.agcensus.usda.gov

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