agriculture
FARM DEFINITION
A farm is “ any place from which $ 1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold , or normally would have been sold , during the year .” Government payments are included in sales . Ranches , institutional farms , experimental and research farms , and Indian Reservations are included as farms . Places with the entire acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program ( CRP ), Wetlands Reserve Program ( WRP ), and other government conservation programs are counted as farms . The definition of a farm was first established in 1850 and has changed nine times since . The current definition was first used for the 1974 Census . Point Farms are places that did not have $ 1,000 of reported sales for the year , but had sufficient crops and livestock to normally have sales of $ 1,000 or more .
Agriculture sustained the first settlers of Kentucky in the 1770s , and the business of raising crops and livestock continues to be the backbone of rural Kentucky today . Kentucky is home to a wide variety of agriculture production , from horses and beef cattle to tobacco and corn . Agriculture in Kentucky is one of the state ’ s leading and most vital industries , contributing about $ 45.6 billion to Kentucky ’ s economy each year . Kentucky agriculture is also constantly changing to keep up with consumer demand and the ever-growing world population .
Kentucky is home to 75,966 farms , from large to small . The average farm size in Kentucky is 171 acres , compared to the national average of 444 acres . Kentucky agriculture is dominated by small family farms . About 66 percent of its farms ( 49,942 ) have annual sales of less than $ 10,000 .
Of Kentucky ’ s 25.4 million acres , just over 50 % is considered farmland ( 12.8 million acres ).
Kentucky agricultural cash receipts ( sale of crops and livestock ) set a record $ 6.86 billion in 2021 .
Kentucky ’ s top agricultural enterprises based on sales :
SOYBEANS & CORN
These versatile crops are used for animal feed , food , fuels , and many other products . Feed grain sales totaled $ 3.3 billion in 2021 .
HORSES & EQUINE
Horse , pony , mule , and donkey sales and service fees were the largest portions of “ other animal sales ” in 2021 , totaling $ 1.1 billion .
POULTRY Broilers ( chickens raised for meat ), eggs , and turkeys provided Kentucky farmers with nearly $ 1.2 billion in 2021 .
CATTLE
Kentucky is home to over 2 million cattle / calves ; being the largest beef state east of the Mississippi River , selling over $ 879 million in 2021 .
While hay does not bring as much money from sales as other crops and livestock , hay ( cut and dried grasses for feed ) are produced on more than 2 million acres , more than any other crop . Kentucky soils , water resources , and climate make the commonwealth the perfect place to feed grazing animals .
Source : www . kyfoodandfarm
44 2023-2024 Pulaski Community snapshot l a special publication of the Commonwealth Journal