By Carrie Pond
Washington, D.C – The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports Tennessee farms are larger and fewer in number than they were several years ago. According to the U.S. Census of Agriculture there were just over 79 thousand farms last year, down 9 percent from 2002. The amount of land used for farming was down 6 percent. Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens attributes the fewer farms to less tobacco production since the end of federal price supports for the crop in 2005. In many parts of the state, the pressures of urbanization also contributed to the change. Nationwide, the number of farms increased 4 percent between 2002 and 2007. Tennessee was one of 11 states that saw the number of farms decline over the five-year period.