The average U.S. farmer got older. The average farm got bigger. The number of mid-sized farms declined, but large and small operations held steady, the USDA reported in the release of the preliminary 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The average farm principal operator, still much more likely to be male than female, is 1.2 years older than the last time USDA conducted the Census of Agriculture in 2007. He’s now 58.3 years old. There was a slight uptick in the number of farmers younger than 35, but not enough to shift the average.

USDA released the preliminary report Thursday, which includes characteristics of farms, the value of agricultural sales and selected characteristics of farmers. The full report will be released in May.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this year’s census was delayed by the budget sequester and October’s government shutdown.

Initial demographics don’t show whole picture

Vilsack said the census underscored the importance of getting more young people involved in agriculture. For example, more than 600,000 farmers are 55 to 64 years old.

“The reality is that over time, those folks won’t be able to continue farming, and the question that poses for all of us is: If they can’t, who will?” Vilsack said. “So it’s incumbent upon us to use the tools that we have to encourage more young people to get into this business.”

Compared to 2007, USDA saw a nearly 20 percent decline in beginning farmers that had been on their current farm operation for 10 years or less.

An even steeper decline — 23 percent — was seen in beginning farmers that had been on the operation for less than five years.

American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist Bob Young said the beginning farmer numbers were quite interesting because, at first, they seemed contrary to his observations.

“Over the course of the last four or five years, pretty much since the last census, participation in our young farmer and rancher program grew by leaps and bounds.”

NASS administrator Cynthia Clark emphasized beginning farmers don’t necessarily correspond to young farmers. In fact, they’re often in the 35- to 44-year-old age range. When the full data set is released in May, it’ll outline demographics for second and third operators, which tend to be younger than the principal operator.

A few other demographic facts:

n The number of minority farmers increased, led by a 21 percent increase in the number of Hispanic farmers.

n One million operators considered farming their principal occupation. The number who identified something other than farming as their main occupation declined by 9 percent.

Mid-size farms feel pinch

The number of farmers fell from a little more than 2.204 million to 2.109 million, a 4.3 percent decline. The average U.S. farm grew to 434 acres from 418 in 2007, a 3.8 percent increase.

Vilsack said those numbers make sense given the census was completed during one of the worst drought years in recent history, when many in the livestock and crop operations faced increased pressures and demand to stay in business.

The number of mid-size farms — farms with more than nine acres but less than 1,000 — declined, but smaller and larger operations didn’t face the same pressure.

“The deep concern that all of us should have is what happens in the middle. Like so much in this economy today, it is the medium-sized operations that feel the greatest stress,” he said, adding the recently passed farm bill includes programs to build markets for mid-sized farms like local and regional food networks and increased export marketing programs for a wide range of crops.

2012 drought affects the data

Young said it’s the first time since 1982 the census was taken in a drought year, and that reflects strongly in the sales data.

U.S. farms sold nearly $395 billion in agricultural products in 2012, an increase of $97.4 billion from 2007.

Drought lifted row-crop prices to records, and crop sales totaled more than $212.4 billion, a 48 percent increase from the last census.

That bested livestock sales, $182.2 billion (which was up 19 percent), for only the second time in the history of the census. Last time that happened was in 1974.

A few other facts:

n Per-farm ag sales averaged $187,000, an increase of more than $52,000.

n The number of farms with sales more than $1 million increased from 2 percent to 4 percent of total farming operations.

Low response rate disappoints

USDA mailed more than 3 million questionnaires to farmers in 2012. It also uses other modes like telephone surveys and an online survey, which saw a near 300 percent increase in responses over the 2007 census. However, the overall response rate declined to 80 percent from 85 percent in 2007.

Vilsack attributed the decline to two factors: 2012’s drought put pressing problems in the forefront, and activities like filling out a questionnaire were put on the back burner.

He also said suspicion the data would be shared with other agencies may have kept some producers from responding. By law, USDA does not share this information, and Vilsack said it takes disclosure of information very seriously.

Young added there are fairly strict laws on what information NASS can disclose, and he hopes farmers realize that by the time the next census rolls around.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.