The average Ohio farmer is a little bit older at 53.8 years old and more likely to claim farming as their primary occupation, according to just-released results of the 2002 USDA Agriculture Census. We also see a continuation of the trend toward more farms at the top and bottom of the size continuum and fewer in the middle. Based on value of annual farm production, most (73%) operations are “small” at less than $25,000, with 37% of all farms producing $2,500 or less. All this, of course, results from the USDA definition of “farm” as an enterprise selling $1,000 or more of farm products, but the trend toward small farm operations as rural residences and parttime enterprises continues nonetheless. On the other end of the scale, 1,196 of Ohio’s 77,797 farm operations produced more than $500,000 of product in 2002. In case you’re wondering, Ohio’s 14.6 million acres of farmland is down about 1% from 1997, and average farm size held at 187 acres, based on growth in numbers of farms below the average and 31 percent growth in farms exceeding 2,000 acres. For more details on the 2002 Ohio Ag Census, see http://www.nass.usda.gov/oh/ .