Farm Numbers by Type of Business Organization

As Figure 8.1 clearly shows, most Massachusetts farms over the years have been family or individually owned. In 2002, 5,020 farms, 82.6 percent of all farms in Massachusetts, were either family or individually run. Corporations held the second largest number of farms in the Commonwealth, with 559 farms (9.2 percent of all Massachusetts farms). Partnerships made up 6.2 percent of the total number of farms in 2002, with 376 farms. Other forms of business organization including cooperatives, estates or trusts and institutional farms made up the remaining 2 percent.

Between 1997 and 2002, Massachusetts lost 1,232 farms (from 7,307 in 1997 to 6,075 in 2002). There were 1,003 fewer family farms in 2002, a decrease of 16.9 percent. Partnerships decreased by 27.8 percent (from 521 farms in 1997 to 376 in 2002) and corporations decreased by 16.2 percent (from 667 to 559). The number of farms in the "other" category, which includes cooperatives, estates, trusts and institutions, increased by 25 percent, from 96 to 120 farms, between 1997 and 2002.

With all these changes, the relative distribution of farms by business organization remained stable between 1997 and 2002 as shown in Figure 8.2. Individual and family held farms represent about 82.5 percent of all farms and corporate farms represented just over 9 percent in each year. Partnerships dipped slightly from around 7 percent to 6 percent, while the other category increased from 1.3 to 2 percent.