The 2012 Census of Agriculture released today by the USDA reveals less farms and new trends.

The census reveals there are now 3.28 million farmers operating 2.1 million farms on 914.5 million acres of farmland across the United States. Those numbers are all lower than 2007 when the census reported 3.18 million farmers, 2.2 million farms and 922 million acres.

Some highlights of the new census include:

– Record high sales and production expenses. U.S. producers sold $394.6 billion worth of agricultural products, but it cost them $328.9 billion to produce these products.

– The top 5 states for agricultural sales were California ($42.6 billion); Iowa ($30.8 billion); Texas ($25.4 billion); Nebraska ($23.1 billion); and Minnesota ($21.3 billion).

– Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
– Farms with Internet access rose from 56.5 percent in 2007 to 69.6 percent in 2012.
– 57,299 farms produced on-farm renewable energy, more than double the 23,451 in 2007.
– 474,028 farms on over 173.1 million acres used conservation tillage or no-till practices.
– Corn and soybean acres topped 50 percent of all harvested acres for the first time.

Listen to a recording of the webcast release of the census data here: USDA Releases 2012 Census Data