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FARM EMPLOYMENT:

                               2.897.000 TOTAL
                               1.846.000 FAMILY MEMBERS
                               1.051,000 HIRED WORKERS

                               NUMBER OF FARMS:
                               12,176.000

                               TOTAL LAND IN FARMS (millions of hectares):
                                406.1

                               AVERAGE HECTARES PER FARM:
                               1187

                                NUMBER  OF  FARMS  BY  TYPE  OF  ORGANIZATION
                            (percentage, 2002):

                               86.9 INDIVIDUAL OR FAMILY-OWNED
                               10.0 PARTNERSHIPS
                               2.7 CORPORATIONS

                               FARM AREA BY TYPE OF ORGANIZATION  (percentage,
                            2002):

                               68.9 INDIVIDUAL OR FAMILY-OWNED
                               16.3 PARTNERSHIPS
                               13.6 CORPORATIONS

                               GROSS FARM INCOME (thousand million dollars):
                               3169,800

                                American farmland is among the richest and most varied in the
                            world, in part, this is due to the United States' vast size; in part, to
                            nature's generosity. Deserts exist only in a relatively small area of the
                            West. Elsewhere, rainfall ranges from modest to abundant, and rivers
                            and  underground  water  permit  extensive  irrigation.  Large  areas  of
                            land  -  especially  in  the  midwestern  Great  Plains  -  provide  ideal
                            conditions for large-scale agriculture.
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