Download Tennessee Census of Ag Infographic PDF
As the state’s top industry, Tennessee agriculture significantly contributes to the state economy. According to the USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture, Tennessee is home to 63,105 farms with a market value of agricultural products sold totaling $5.16 billion. (The 2022 Census of Agriculture data was released in February 2024 and is the most recent census data available.)
The number of farms in Tennessee has decreased by 10% since 2017 and by 28% since 2002. However, there are still more than 10.7 million acres of farm land in Tennessee, and the state’s average farm size is 170 acres.
The market value of crops grown in Tennessee, including its significant nursery and greenhouse industry, totaled more than $3 billion in 2022, including $430.6 million for nursery and greenhouse products alone. The market value of livestock, poultry and their products, including beef, pork, chicken, dairy and eggs, came to more than $2 billion.
What Are Tennessee’s Top Agricultural Products?
According to the most recent available cash receipts (the total amount of crops or livestock sold in a calendar year), Tennessee’s top agricultural products include soybeans, broilers (chickens raised for meat), corn, cattle and calves, and cotton, to name a few.
See More: Tennessee’s Top 10 Agricultural Products
Who Owns Tennessee Farms?
The Census of Agriculture calculates farm ownership by the farm’s legal status for tax purposes. Like many states, Tennessee farms are primarily owned and operated by families or individuals, with 58,952 family farms as of 2022, or about 93% of all farms in the state. Partnerships accounted for 2,477 farms, or 4%, while just over 1,000 farms, or 2%, are owned by corporations. Other farms, such as estates or trusts, prison farms, grazing associations, American Indian Reservations, etc., make up about 1% of farms in Tennessee.
Tennessee farmers are predominantly men. According to the Census of Agriculture, there were 69,313 male farmers in Tennessee in 2022, making up 64% of the state’s total producers. Tennessee’s 38,504 women farmers accounted for 36% of the total.
See More: Tennessee Agriculture
How Old Are Tennessee Farmers?
Out of 107,817 farmers in Tennessee, most are over the age of 55. In fact, the average age of a Tennessee farmer is 58.9 years old, up from 58 years in 2017.
Just over a quarter of Tennessee farmers (around 26%) fall into the age group of 55 to 64 years, and 24.4% of farmers are ages 65 to 74. Farmers ranging from 45 to 54 years old account for 16%, followed by farmers age 75 or older (14.7%), then farmers ages 35 to 44 (11%). Only 5.8% of farmers are ages 25 to 34, and just 1,762 Tennessee farmers are under 25, or about 1.6%.
More Tennessee Farm Facts
Though the state counts more than 100,000 agricultural producers, 63% of Tennessee farmers have a primary occupation other than farming. Only about 40,000 respondents to the Census of Agriculture said their primary occupation was farming.
Active duty military members and veterans also account for some farmers, as Tennessee has 12,132 farmers with current or past military service.
See More: Meet a Tennessee Military Veteran Turned Farmer
According to the census, there are 1,176 Black farmers in Tennessee who farm 95,387 acres of land across 815 farms.
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin producers farmed 122,635 acres of land in 2022, up from 101,838 acres five years earlier.
Tennessee’s number of new and beginning farmers totaled 31,696, up from 30,953 five years earlier.
Tennessee is home to 39 USDA-certified organic farms, down from 51 in 2017.
Finally, here’s some buzzy news about Tennessee agriculture: The state had 24,212 colonies of honeybees that produced 708,241 pounds of honey in 2022, up from 18,663 colonies that produced 524,051 pounds of honey five years earlier.
See More: A Few Things You May Not Know About Tennessee Honeybees
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