Every 5 years, the USDA conducts the Census of Agriculture to survey U.S. farms, ranches, and the people who operate them. Whether urban or rural, if more than $1,000 of agricultural products were produced and sold, your farm should be counted in the census. This year, a new census will be conducted, and you can learn more at the FAQ webpage. Questionnaires will be mailed in November/December and responses are due by February 6, 2023.  

Why are we telling you this? Well, we use Census of Agriculture data weekly (if not daily!) here at KCARD in business plans, feasibility studies, grant applications, and for general educational purposes. Census of Agriculture data is certainly not perfect, but it is an important measuring stick!  

In addition to the Census, USDA conducts topical surveys that cover specific sectors in agriculture such as Organic Agriculture and Local Food Marketing Practices. We dove into the 2020 Local Food Marketing Practices (LFMP) survey results that were released in April 2022, and we resurfaced with a trove of information that highlights the current status of local food nationally and within the state. The first LFMP survey was conducted in 2015, so the 2020 survey provides the first set of comparison data.

Check out a few national highlights below: 

• Farmers who sell food locally are more likely than all U.S. farmers to be age 34 or younger, female, and identify farming as their primary occupation. See here for yourself!  

  A majority of farms (78%) selling food directly to consumers sold all their food within a 100-mile radius of the farm. 

• The most growth by a market channel category was to Institutions and Intermediaries with a 700 million dollar increase from 2015 to 2020. Sales direct to retailer and consumer saw a slight decrease.  

• Of total farms marketing local food, 48% sold fresh commodities (e.g. lettuce), while 55% sold processed or value-added commodities (e.g. milk, cheese, meat, wine, jam). Of farms selling directly to consumers, 42% sold fresh products and 75% sold processed or value-added items. However, fresh food products accounted for a higher portion of sales (52%).  

And in Kentucky:  

• From 2015 to 2020, the total number of farm operations selling locally produced food in Kentucky increased by 27%. Nationally, this number decreased by 12%. Much of the growth included farms selling in the direct-to-consumer market channel, with 537 new farms selling direct-to-consumer, a 21% increase. 

• Local food sales in Kentucky decreased by 17%, from 65 million dollars to 54 million dollars. In comparison, overall national local food sales ticked up by 3%. 

• Local sales of value-added products decreased from 54 million dollars to 45 million dollars. However, fresh food sales saw a sharp increase from 20 million dollars to 29 million dollars.  

• The number of producers grew by 64% from 6,000 to 9,819. A large amount of that increase (2,270) was female producers.  

• Farm operations accepting SNAP payments with EBT technology is still low at only 216, but that is a 4% increase from 2015. 

One of the more striking findings in the LFMP survey results had to do with “farm business stage.” The number of Kentucky farms selling locally that are in expansion phase (11-20 years) doubled from 2015 to 2020! This is significant because it represents growth in farms making it out of the start-up years. The number of new farms that are less than 6 years old also saw substantial growth. Farm operations between 6-10 years old and over 21 years old both decreased.  

KCARD data shows that about two-thirds of the farm operations assisted through the Local Food Initiative are 0-10 years old.  At this stage of business, assistance with connecting to buyers such as retailers, distributors, and chefs is desired and often critical.  

To learn more and for inquiries regarding KCARD’s Kentucky Local Food Expansion Initiative, please contact Olivia Vogel at ovogel@kcard.info or (859) 813-0658.