Rising commodity prices helped drive up the value of agricultural products produced in Arkansas by 30 percent between 2007 and 2012 to nearly $9.8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, released Thursday.

The census, completed every five years to track agriculture in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, indicates that agricultural growth in Arkansas reflected similar growth nationally, where the total value of the nation’s agricultural output grew from $297 billion in 2007 to $394.6 billion in 2012.

Despite the 2012 drought that struck Arkansas and much of the nation’s Midwest, access to irrigated fields enabled Arkansas farmers to bring crops to market, which also contributed to the rise in value of the state’s agriculture industry.

The 2012 agriculture census states the value of crops, including row crops such as rice, cotton, corn and soybeans, as well as nursery and greenhouse crops, rose 66.7 percent in Arkansas during the five-year period, from $2.9 billion to $4.8 billion. At the same time, the value of livestock and poultry rose just 7.2 percent, from $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion.

Nationally, the value of crop sales, $212.4 billion, exceeded that of livestock sales, $182.2 billion, for only the second time in census history, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which conducts the census.

Matt King, an economist with the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said the 2012 drought, combined with strong commodity prices, drove the spike in the value of Arkansas’s agriculture.

“That really drove those numbers up quite a bit,” King said. He said the rise of commodity prices, such as corn, which was in the $3 per bushel range five or six years ago but hit $7 or more in 2012 when yields hit record levels, were behind the numbers.

However, commodity prices have softened lately, he said, and whether that continues will depend on whether producers shift plantings or produce more of a crop, which can drive down prices, he said.

With the availability of irrigation in Arkansas, “Weather events don’t affect us as much in Arkansas because we’re going to grow a crop,” King said.

The 2012 census also revealed that the number of farming operations in Arkansas declined by 8.7 percent, from 49,346 to 45,072, between 2007 and 2012, matching a similar national trend, where the the number of farms shrank by 4.3 percent, from 2.2 million to 2.1 million.

The census also indicated that the average age of Arkansas farmers increased from 56.5 in 2007 to 58.1 in 2012 - slightly less than the national average of 58.3, as the number of people under the age of 35 operating a farm dropped from 2,958 to 2,593. The number of Arkansas farmers older than 65 grew 7.5 percent, from 14,227 to 15,300.

“That’s been the trend for a long time” as the farming community ages and farms become fewer, but larger, said Scott Stiles, an economist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

However, those figures probably reflect pre-2012 commodity prices, said Stiles, who said he saw some new statistics this week that suggest more people under the age of 35 are entering agriculture.

Stiles said the survey, done in 2012, probably doesn’t reflect the increase in commodity prices through that year.

“Since commodity prices hit more record heights, you’re seeing more interest in [agriculture] degree programs,”Stiles said. “I’m seeing more young kids going with plans to go back to the farm,” which speaks to the profitability of agriculture, he said.

The census showed a slight increase nationally among farmers between the ages of 25 and 34, which climbed from 106,735 in 2007 to 109,146 in 2012.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the increase in young farmers good news, telling the Associated Press that interest in locallyproduced foods and a strong export market is attracting young people.

“The reality is, over time those folks won’t be able to continue farming, and the question for all of us is, if they don’t, who will?” Vilsack said after the release of the 2012 census report.

The amount of acreage devoted to agriculture also shrank in Arkansas and across the nation, according to the census.

In Arkansas, acreage dropped from 13.9 million acres to 13.8 million acres. Nationally, acreage shrank from 922.1 million acres to 914.6 million acres. However, the average size of a farm nationally rose from 418 acres to 434 acres. In Arkansas, the average size of a farm also grew, from 281 acres to 306 acres.

Stiles attributed the acreage decline to farmland being converted for residential or commercial use.

“You do lose some land through urbanization over time in these areas where population is growing in the state,” he said. “But there’s not a huge change there,” in terms of the amount of land being used for agriculture in Arkansas.

The 2012 census reported that the majority of Arkansas farming operations, 78 percent, reported gross annual sales of less than $50,000 in 2012. However, the number of operations with gross sales in excess of $1 million grew by 54 percent, from 2,361 in 2007 to 3,640 in 2012.

King said the capital investment needed by farms, either for row crops or livestock, particularly for new technology needed for peak efficiency, is behind the shift to larger operations.

“While we have a huge number of farms in Arkansas, there’s a very small percentage of farms that are producing the vast majority of food,” King said.

Business, Pages 28 on 02/21/2014