Oregon Agriculture

In Oregon, agriculture makes up 13% of the state’s gross product and results in $5.01 billion in agricultural production, and $2.57 billion in agricultural exports, according to a 2021 report from the Oregon state Board of Agriculture.

See the 2022 Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Facts & Figures brochure for lists of top 20 Oregon ag commodities, national rankings, information of the number and types of farms in Oregon, and more!

Lots of great data about Oregon farming and ranching from the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture is available HERE and HERE.

Oregon’s principal operators of farms and ranches make up less than 1% of the total population of Oregon. Source: p. 4 in Oregon State University Extension Service Rural Studies Program

About 96.7% of Oregon’s farms and ranches are family owned and operated, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Some are “corporate” farms because they are incorporated for tax/family succession plan reasons. Source: p. 10 in Oregon State University Extension Service Rural Studies Program

44% of all Oregon farmers and ranchers are women, which ranks Oregon 4th in the nation for the number of female principal farm and ranch operators. Nationally, 36% of U.S. farmers and ranchers are women. Source: 2017 U.S. Census of Agriculture

Oregon agriculture is sustainable. Since 1958, 1,235 Oregon farms and ranches are officially recognized as remaining operational and within same family at least 100 years, while 47 have reached the official 150-year-old mark. Source: Oregon Century Farm & Ranch Program

Oregon is a specialty-crop state with 220+ recognized commodities. Source: Oregon Dept. of Agriculture

“The most recent numbers for Oregon provided by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) places the state in 5th place for production of fresh market vegetables at about 777,000 tons and 8th in value of production of fresh vegetables at more than $177 million. When it comes to growing vegetables for processing, Oregon ranks 5th in the nation in both production and value of production, at more than 316,000 tons and $57.8 million respectively.” Source material

In Oregon, about 12% of farms—more than double the national rate—engage in direct-to-consumer marketing, with sales of over US$53 million from an estimated 4,252 farms in 2015, according to a report by Oregon State University (p. 87) Nationally, Oregon ranks 11th in number of farms with local sales, 19th in total value of local sales, and 8th for local sales of fresh produce (Oregon Department of Agriculture, 2016), even though it ranks 28th in total value of agricultural products sold (USDANASS, 2017).

Oregon ranks 6th in the U.S. for the number of acreage in certificated organic farming at 195,000 acres. (NASS report, 2016)

Thoughtful succession planning is more important than ever now that the average age of Oregon farmers is 60 years (up from 55 years in 2002). As older farmers retire over the next two decades, over 10 million acres, or 64 percent of Oregon’s agricultural land, will pass to new owners, according to OSU’s Future of Oregon’s Agricultural Land report (2016)

One U.S. farmer feeds 168 people on average, thanks to farmers’ efficiency and productivity. Source: 2012 Census of Ag, USDA, American Farm Bureau

“Farms with agricultural product sales of $500,000 or more represented just 5% (1,720) of Oregon’s farms in 2017. But with $4 billion in sales, these farms commanded 81% of all agricultural product sales. At the other end of the spectrum, farms selling less than $1,000 in agricultural products represented 31% (11,662) of Oregon‘s farms with $2.9 million in 2017 sales or just 0.1%. Operations with sales in the $100,000 but less than $500,000 range represented 8% of Oregon’s farms (2,844) and 13% of its 2017 sales, at $666 million.” Source: 2017 U.S. Census of Ag