Interesting Alabama Farm Facts

• About 1/3 of Alabama Farmers are women.
• 80% of the market value of farm products is in livestock.
• Alabama ranks 2nd in Quail Inventory. 
• State is 2nd highest in peanut production.

"Although the average age of (Alabama farmers) is 58 years old in this gulf state, 30% of all Alabama agricultural producers are new and beginning which is 3% higher than the national percentage. More than 4,000 farmers and ranchers in the state are black or African American – 6% of the state’s total and a higher portion than most states. Women make up 34% of the state’s nearly 65,000 farm operators. Thirteen percent of farmers in Alabama have military service compared to 11% of farmers in the United States.
Overall, livestock accounts for 80% of the total market value of agriculture products sold in the state. More than half of all farms in the state raise cattle, but the top livestock product by value of sales is poultry and poultry products. With over $4.2 billion in sales, poultry and eggs are Alabama’s top commodity and put the state at fourth out of all 50 states. The 2017 Census of Agriculture counted more than 209 million broiler chickens, 7.9 million layers, and 5.3 million pullets in Alabama.
Providing foodies with delicacies, Alabama ranks second in the U.S. for quail inventory at 1.4 million. For seafood lovers, Alabama’s aquaculture industry was ranked fourth in the nation in sales.
Peanut and cotton data in the 2017 Census of Agriculture continue to tell part of the ever-changing story of dynamic agriculture in Alabama. Although Alabama is known as the cotton state, it ranks sixth in the nation for cotton acreage. Alabama’s 700.3 million pounds of peanuts produced was the second highest in the nation in 2017."

  USDA Source HERE.