North Dakota had 500 fewer farmers in 1999 than the previous year, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. At the dawn of the new century there were 30,500 farms in the state, and the average size had risen from 1,274 acres in 1998 to 1,292 in 1999. Land in farms fell from 39.5 million acres to 39.4 million.
Throughout the 1990s the state lost 3,000 farms, or 9 percent; the worst decade for farm loss was the 1960s, when the state dropped about 11,000 farms.
North Dakota has 8,400 farms in the $1,000 to $9,999 sales category, up 200 from 1998; 13,500 in the $10,000 to $99,999 sales category, down 500 from a year ago; and 8,600 in the $100,000 or more sales category, which is down 200 from 1998.
A farm is defined as any establishment from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were sold or would normally be sold; government payments are included as sales.
