LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The number of Nebraska farms dropped again last year.
A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service says the total hit 46,800 in 2011, compared with 47,200 in 2010.
The service says the 2010 figure was unchanged from 2009. But those figures were down 200 from 2008’s count.
In Nebraska, the average farm size was 972 acres last year, compared with 966 the year before.
The number of Nebraska farms with annual sales above $500,000 grew by 1,500 in 2011. Much of that was offset by a combined drop of 1,100 for the sales categories of $100,000 to $250,000 and $250,000 to $500,000. The USDA says higher commodity prices were a major factor in those figures.