According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s preliminary 2012 Census of Agriculture, more farms are sprouting up across New Hampshire. In fact, the numbers show New England as a whole bucking national trends.
While the nation has seen a decrease in farm operations by 4.3 percent since 2007, New Hampshire has seen an increase by 5.4 percent.
NH’s state statistician for the US Department of Agriculture, Gary Keough says the growing farm sector in NH may have to with both increasing non-career or so-called “lifestyle” farmers, as well as the growing farm-to-plate movement.
The desire for farmers markets, local food, farm to restaurants, farm to institutions are becoming ways for farmers to sell their products at higher price so they can pay the higher land prices we have in much of New England.
More land in New Hampshire is also going into farming, a figure that also bucks national trends. The USDA will release a full report in May.