Top Oklahoma Agriculture Facts From the 2024 Census of Agriculture
Download Oklahoma Census of Ag Infographic PDF
Oklahoma agriculture is a thriving industry that produces a wide variety of products for the state and nation, from cattle and hogs to corn and cotton. According to the USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture, there are 70,378 farms in Oklahoma with a market value of agricultural products sold totaling more than $8.5 billion. (The 2022 Census of Agriculture data came out in February 2024 and is the most recent census data available.)
The number of farms in Oklahoma has decreased by 10% since 2017 and by 16% since 2002. However, there are still more than 32 million acres of farm land in Oklahoma, and the state’s average farm size is 467 acres.
The market value of crops grown in Oklahoma, including nursery and greenhouse crops, totaled more than $1.5 billion in 2022. The market value of livestock, poultry and their products, including beef, pork, chicken, dairy and eggs, came to nearly $7 billion.
What Are Oklahoma’s Top Agricultural Products?
According to the most recent available cash receipts (the total amount of crops or livestock sold in a calendar year), Oklahoma’s top agricultural products include cattle and calves, hogs, broilers (chickens raised for meat), wheat, cotton, and corn, to name a few.
See More: Oklahoma Agriculture
Who Owns Oklahoma Farms?
The Census of Agriculture calculates farm ownership by the farm’s legal status for tax purposes. Like many states, Oklahoma farms are primarily owned and operated by families or individuals, with 63,812 family farms as of 2022, or about 90.7% of all farms in the state. Partnerships accounted for 2,988 farms, or 4.2%, while corporations own just over 2,000 farms, or 3%. Other farms, such as estates or trusts, prison farms, grazing associations, American Indian Reservations, etc., make up about 2.2% of farms in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma farmers are predominantly men. According to the Census of Agriculture, there were 75,347 male farmers in Oklahoma in 2022, making up 60% of the state’s total producers. Oklahoma’s 49,396 women farmers accounted for 40% of the total.
See More: What’s Growing? Oklahoma Produce Calendar
How Old Are Oklahoma Farmers?
Out of 124,743 farmers in Oklahoma, most are over the age of 55. In fact, the average age of an Oklahoma farmer is 57.7 years old, up from 57 years in 2017.
Just under a quarter of Oklahoma farmers (around 23.8%) fall into the age group of 55 to 64 years, and 23.2% of farmers are ages 65 to 74. Farmers ranging from 45 to 54 years old account for 16.1%, followed by farmers aged 75 years or older (14.3%), then farmers ages 35 to 44 (13.2%). Only 7.6% of farmers are ages 25 to 34, and just 2,291 Oklahoma farmers are under 25, or about 1.8%.
More Oklahoma Farm Facts
Though the state counts more than 124,000 agricultural producers, 61% of Oklahoma farmers have a primary occupation other than farming. Only about 48,000 respondents to the Census of Agriculture said their primary occupation was farming.
Active duty military members and veterans also account for some farmers, as Oklahoma has 11,896 farmers with current or past military service.
See More: Native American Tribes Are Major Contributors to Oklahoma Agriculture
According to the census, there are 1,377 Black farmers in Oklahoma who farm 221,523 acres of land across 953 farms.
In 2022, Oklahoma counted 39,822 new and beginning producers, including 17,411 women.
Oklahoma is home to 52 USDA-certified organic farms, up from 29 in 2017.
Oklahoma was home to 22,993 colonies of honeybees in 2022 that produced 234,008 pounds of honey.
Oklahoma’s cattle and calf inventory totaled an impressive 4,512,794 in 2022.