At a glance
| Farmland in northeast Indiana: |
| Number of farms |
2007 |
2012 |
| Adams… |
1,315… |
…1,476 |
| Allen… |
1,649… |
…1,725 |
| DeKalb… |
1,144… |
…924 |
| Huntington… |
766… |
…695 |
| Kosciusko… |
1,235… |
…1,247 |
| Noble… |
1,196… |
…1,163 |
| Steuben… |
719… |
…562 |
| Wells… |
701… |
…636 |
| Whitley… |
809… |
…710 |
| Totals… |
9,534… |
…9,138 |
| |
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
A rise in “hobby farmers” may eventually skew the numbers in a census tally of agricultural land, an industry leader says.
Roger Hadley, president of the Allen County Farm Bureau, said the number of farms in some counties in northeast Indiana may have increased, but the boost is a bit bogus.
“There are folks with a few acres with horses or vegetables that are being counted in the census data,” he said. “It’s something they do on the side and it’s not their main job. They’re probably not what you think of when you hear the word ‘farm.’ ”
Even so, the number of farms in the region since 2007 decreased 4.1 percent to 9,138.
Nationally, the country saw a 3 percent drop in the number of farmers as 3.2 million growers operate 2.1 million farms on 914.5 million acres of farmland across the United States, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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