Nonfarm farms

The number of farms in the US, as reported in the quinquennial census of agriculture, is inflated by a permissive definition that includes operations that are not truly farms. In 1987 these nonfarm farms generally had less than 50 acres of land and sold less than $5000 worth of farm products; their operators worked off-farm 100 days or more and admitted that farming was not their principal occupation. Most nonfarm farms in 1987 were south and east of a sinusoidal line stretching southward from Cleveland through Cincinnati, St Louis, and Oklahoma City to the lower Rio Grande valley. Only the largest metropolitan centers noticeably influenced the distribution of this type of agricultural operation. -Author