TRENTON, N.J. — Almost 2,900 New Jersey farms produced and sold food locally through direct marketing practices, resulting in over $228 million in revenue in 2020, according to the Local Food Marketing Practices data released April 28, 2022, by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Nationwide, over 147,000 U.S. farms produced and sold food locally resulting in $9.0 billion in revenue in 2020. The data covers both fresh and value-added foods, such as meat and cheese.
The more than 40,000 U.S. farms that sold food directly to institutions and intermediates brought in the most revenue at $4.1 billion; this was followed by over 113,000 operations with direct-to-consumer sales, such as on-farm stores and farmers markets, at $2.9 billion. Sales directly to retailers accounted for $1.9 billion from more than 24,000 operations nationwide.
The top five states by value of total direct food sales were:
- California, $1.43 billion
- Pennsylvania, $600 million
- New York, $584 million<
- Michigan, $555 million
- Maine, $342 million
Most farms that sold directly to consumers sold through outlets such as on-farm stores. New Jersey had over 2,600 operations engaged in direct-to-consumer sales earning almost $96 million.
Data also showed that 78% of U.S. farms sold their direct-to-market produce exclusively within 100 miles of the farm, while an additional 19% sold partially within and beyond 100 miles.
Approximately 314,000 people were involved in making decisions for the farms that sold directly to consumers in 2020. Of these, 57% were men and 43% were women – a higher proportion of women than among all farms, according to data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture.
Additional data is available on the survey page< or at NASS’s Quick Stats database. Access the highlights for more data.
There will be a live Twitter Stat Chat, a question-and-answer session for the public, hosted by NASS’s Environmental, Economics and Demographics Chief Tony Dorn about the Local Food Marketing Practices data <@usda_nass April 29, 2022 at 1 p.m. EDT. The public should include #StatChat in their questions.
–USDA, NASS
