Every 5 years the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Census of Agriculture publishes and provides data at the U.S., state, and county levels. One of the metrics that is tracked in this census is the average age of agricultural producers.
In all the Southern states except North Carolina, the average age of agricultural producers increased. For 2022, Mississippi and Florida had the highest average ages of producers at 59.6 and 59.5 years old, respectively. Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee had the largest percent change increases in average ages from 2017 to 2022. In Texas, the average age in 2017 was 59.2 and increased to 59.9 by year 2022. This was a 1.2% increase in age. Overall average ages for all producers for 2017 and 2022 for Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and North Carolina are listed.
To take a deeper dive into Texas, the table below lists the changes in average age of Southern Producers by County. Out of 254 Texas counties, 171 counties had an increase in average age. Six counties (including Sterling, Martin, and Dickens counties) had no change at all and 77 counties (including Schleicher County) actually saw a decline in average age of producers from 2017 to 2022.
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Menard, R. James. “Changes in Average Age of Producers in Southern States, 2017 and 2022.” Southern Ag Today 4(32.5). August 9, 2024.