ALABAMA A G R I C U LT U R E A N D F O R E S T R Y Special Report No. 9 September 2010 Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station Alabama Cooperative Extension System Alabama Farmers Federation College of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences $5,539,000,000 Agriculture accounted for $5.54 billion of production in the Alabama economy for 2009. SOURCE: National Agricultural Statistics Service (www.nass.usda.gov/) (unless noted otherwise) NOTE: Maps are based on data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture; to protect respondents’ confidentiality, no data are published that would disclose information about the operations of an individual farm or ranch. Facts and graphs are based on the most current information available at the time of publication. Reprinted, 10M, September 2010 Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer. http://www.auburn.edu http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aaes Alabama is in the top 20 states in the production of 16 commodities. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • No. 2 in catfish sales No. 3 in broilers No. 3 in peanuts No. 3 in timberland acres No. 6 in sweet potatoes No. 6 in pecans No. 9 in cottonseed No. 9 in cotton, upland No. 10 in meat goats No. 10 in tomatoes (fresh) No. 12 in blueberries No. 12 in watermelons No. 14 in eggs No. 17 in beef cow inventory No. 18 in peaches No. 20 in greenhouse, nursery, and sod sales A L A BA M A Farms and Farmers Farm acreage 9,033,537 Forestry acreage 22,558,000 Demographics of farmers Race White 92% African American 5% Other 3% Gender Male 87% Female 13% Average age 58 A L A BA M A Farms and Farmers Number of farms 48,500 Principal operators’ primary occupation Farming 40% Other 60% A L A BA M A Farms and Farmers Average size of farm (acres) 185 Total market value of production $4,415,550,000 (ag products sold) Average market value of production (per farm) $90,570 A L A BA M A Corn 280,000 acres planted 1,856 operations 27,000,000 bushels $112,050,000 value of production 150 120 90 60 Bushels per Harvested Acre 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 A L A BA M A Cotton 255,000 acres planted 917 operations 360,000 bales $111,283,000 value of production 800 700 600 500 400 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Pounds per Harvested Acre A L A BA M A Soybeans 440,000 acres planted 924 operations 17,200,000 bushels $178,880,000 value of production 40 35 30 25 20 15 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Bushels per Harvested Acre A L A BA M A Peanuts 155,000 acres planted 704 operations 471,200,000 pounds $104,606,000 value of production 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Pounds per Harvested Acre A L A BA M A Wheat 220,000 acres planted 518 operations 9,900,000 bushels $45,540,000 value of production 90 78 66 54 42 30 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Bushels per Harvested Acre A L A BA M A Forestry 22,558,000 acres of forestland* 66% owned by non-industrial private landowners* $679,462,000 market value of timber harvested** SOURCES: *USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 2007 **Alabama Forestry Commission, Forest Resource Report, 2008 ***USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory Data Online, 2008 A L A BA M A Horticulture Sales Floriculture Crops bedding/garden plants, cut flowers, and foliage/potted flowering plants Firms 278 $87,088,158 Greenhouse Vegetable Plants and Fresh Cut Herbs Nursery Stock Harvested Sod $1,954,022 30 $99,704,294 $58,129,093 306 97 NOTE: Additional information can be found in Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station Special Report No. 7, 2009. A L A BA M A Sweet Potatoes 2,300 acres harvested 391,000 pounds produced $8,016,000 value of production A L A BA M A Blueberries 310 acres harvested 300,000 pounds produced $492,000 value of production A L A BA M A Pecans 10,000,000 pounds produced $10,336,000 value of production A L A BA M A Tomatoes 1,300 acres harvested 403,000 pounds produced $12,255,000 value of production A L A BA M A Watermelons 2,600 acres harvested 416,000 pounds produced $4,410,000 value of production A L A BA M A Peaches 4,000 tons produced $3,750,000 value of production A L A BA M A Cattle and Calves 24,000 operations with cattle 1,280,000 head $309,937,000 value of production 1,500,000 1,400,000 1,300,000 1,200,000 Total Inventory General Trend 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 A L A BA M A Hogs 547 operations 140,000 hogs and pigs $30,467,000 value of production 200,000 183,333 166,666 150,000 Total Inventory General Trend 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 A L A BA M A Broilers 2,417 operations 1,002,300,000 broilers $2,519,304,000 value of production 1,200,000,000 Total Inventory General Trend 1,000,000,000 800,000,000 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 A L A BA M A Egg Production 778 layer operations 2,106,000,000 eggs $281,043,000 value of production 2,500,000,000 Total Egg Production General Trend 2,250,000,000 2,000,000,000 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 A L A BA M A Catfish 252 operations 129,275,000 pounds sold 70,900,000 number sold NOTE: 80% of operations report by pounds; 20% by numbers $ 90,688,000 value of production 30 Surface Water Acres 25 20 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 A L A BA M A Dairy Herds 157 farms with 1 or more dairy cows 72 farms with 10 or more dairy cows 11,000 milk cows 164,000,000 pounds of milk $25,584,000 value of production A L A BA M A Hay/Pasture 1,900,000 acres in improved pasture* 400,000 acres winter grazing* 800,000 acres in hay $147,840,000 value of production SOURCE: *Estimates by Extension Forage Specialist A L A BA M A Goats 4,120 farms with inventory 64,200 head $3,128,000 value of production (includes sheep, goats, and their products) A L A BA M A Horses 186,871 horses* $2,323,560,691 total economic impact* SOURCE: *Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 662, 2006 A L A BA M A Value of Production Estimates Commodity Corn Cotton Soybeans Peanuts Wheat Timber Floriculture Greenhouse Plants and Herbs Nursery Stock Harvested Sod Cattle and Calves Hogs Broilers Eggs Catfish Dairy Hay 2008 million $ 2009 112.1 111.2 178.9 104.6 45.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 309.9 30.5 2,519.3 281.0 90.7 25.6 147.8 128.6 101.1 126.2 152.0 84.5 679.5 87.1 2.0 99.7 58.1 334.0 28.4 2,630.0 298.6 93.3 39.7 194.0