Florida Agriculture Overview

Florida had 44,703 farms covering 9,701,400 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and they sold $10,224,600,000 of crops and livestock, 39 percent more than in 2017 (USDA NASS).

The 2022 Census profile shows the average Florida farm at 217 acres, up 6 percent from 2017, while the number of farms fell 6 percent (Census of Agriculture). Crops brought in 79 percent of sales and livestock, poultry and their products 21 percent. Net cash farm income reached $2,354,440,000 statewide, up 90 percent from 2017. Pasture is the biggest single use of Florida farmland at 3,547,177 acres, ahead of 2,874,871 acres of cropland and 2,349,120 acres of woodland.

Many Florida farms are small. Of the 44,703 counted, 19,022 sold less than $2,500 of products in 2022 and only 6,045 sold $100,000 or more; by size, 12,303 farms had under 10 acres and 1,568 had 1,000 acres or more (USDA NASS).

The yearly figures FDACS publishes come from the USDA Florida Annual Statistical Bulletin rather than the Census, and they differ. FDACS lists 44,400 commercial farms in 2024 on 9.7 million acres with an average of 218 acres, and ranks Florida 16th among states in number of farms and 29th in land in farms (FDACS). Its same table shows 47,700 farms for 2022, the year the Census counted 44,703, so a careful reader should name which series a number comes from. FDACS notes that the next Census update will be in 2029.

Floriculture, vegetables and melons, and sugarcane each earned Florida farms more cash than citrus in 2023, when cash receipts totaled $9.24 billion and the leading crop commodities were floriculture at 13.1 percent and sugarcane at 9.8 percent (FDACS).

Total Florida cash receipts in 2023 rose 4 percent from $8.88 billion the year before, and crops accounted for 76 percent of the total (FDACS). The value of Florida's published vegetables, berries, spring potatoes and watermelons reached $3 billion in 2024, up 36 percent, with strawberries up 25 percent; tomatoes fell 33 percent and cucumbers 52 percent in the same comparison.

By acres, the 2022 Census puts hay and forage first in Florida at 501,738 acres, then sugarcane at 397,583 acres, oranges at 349,046 acres, harvested vegetables at 274,766 acres and peanuts at 149,068 acres (USDA NASS). Among the field crops FDACS lists for 2024, peanuts had the highest value of production at $149 million, ahead of hay at $109 million (FDACS).

Florida ranked second in U.S. vegetable sales and second in nursery and floriculture sales in the 2022 Census, and held about a third of 2024 U.S. production value for Valencia oranges and sweet corn (USDA NASS; FDACS).

The 2022 Census ranks put Florida vegetable, melon and potato sales at about $1.92 billion and nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod at about $3.48 billion, both second in the country (Census of Agriculture). Florida was third in fruits, tree nuts and berries, third in horses and ponies, and fourth in aquaculture.

FDACS lists Florida's 2024 share of U.S. value of production as 34 percent for Valencia oranges, 33 percent for sweet corn ($293 million), 32 percent for bell peppers ($200.9 million), 29 percent for watermelons ($198 million), 19 percent for grapefruit, 18 percent for total floriculture sales ($1.21 billion), 17 percent for fresh market tomatoes and 14 percent for strawberries ($540.3 million) (FDACS). FDACS credits those shares to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

FDACS lists ten top 2024 export partners for Florida agricultural and related products. The largest buyers of Florida agricultural and related exports were Canada at $1.066 billion, the Dominican Republic at $474.2 million and Mexico at $460.1 million, according to Census Bureau trade data published by FDACS (FDACS). Dairy products, at $506.9 million, topped the export commodity list.

Palm Beach County sold the most farm products in Florida in the 2022 Census at $1.25 billion, followed by Miami-Dade at $1.14 billion and Hillsborough at $704 million, while Hendry County had the most land in farms (FDACS; USDA NASS).

After the top three, the FDACS county list from the 2022 Census continues with Hendry at $633 million, Orange at $395 million, Collier at $388 million, Manatee at $322 million, Polk at $304 million and Okeechobee at $302 million (FDACS). At the other end, several counties reported only a few million dollars: Pinellas, Duval and Clay each show $7 million, and Franklin $1 million.

Land and sales do not line up county by county in Florida. Hendry County led in land in farms with 586,858 acres, followed by Osceola with 584,279, Polk with 559,699, Palm Beach with 460,575 and Highlands with 389,622 (USDA NASS). The gap is widest in Osceola County, second in Florida farmland yet listed by FDACS at $99 million in 2022 sales (FDACS).

Citrus earned Florida farms less than cattle or floriculture in 2023, when it brought in 3.09 percent of cash receipts, and commercial groves covered 165,359 acres in the preliminary August 27, 2026 USDA inventory, down 21 percent from the previous survey (USDA NASS; FDACS).

Florida Valencia orange production reached 8.18 million boxes in the 2025-2026 season, up 7 percent, according to the August 27, 2026 USDA citrus summary (USDA NASS). The separate Digital Towns guide to Florida citrus canker and greening covers the two diseases and the rules for moving citrus.

Cattle and calves on Florida farms and ranches totaled 1.56 million head on January 1, 2025, including dairy cattle, the same as a year earlier (FDACS). Florida ranked ninth among states in beef cows and 18th in total cattle, and 770,000 calves were born in 2024.

Forests cover half of Florida: the state has 17.16 million acres of forestland, half its land area, and nearly two thirds of it is privately owned (FDACS). Florida pine and hardwood forests are cut for wood building materials, paper and packaging, chemicals and renewable biomass fuels, according to FDACS.

Florida had 79,253 farm producers in the 2022 Census, 32,472 of them women and 31,935 aged 65 or older, and FDACS programs and UF/IFAS Extension offices in all 67 Florida counties serve them (USDA NASS; UF/IFAS Extension).

The same Florida Census profile counts 26,834 new and beginning farmers and 9,492 producers with military service (USDA NASS). Ninety two percent of Florida farms are family farms, 80 percent have internet access, 26 percent hire farm labor and 7 percent sell directly to consumers.

FDACS runs state programs for Florida farms. Its agricultural water field services cover Best Management Practices enrollment, implementation verifications and the Mobile Irrigation Lab, and FDACS compiles 20-year water demand projections for agricultural self-suppliers (FDACS). Families with at least 100 years of continuous ownership of a Florida farm can apply to the Century Pioneer Family Farm program, which FDACS started in 1985; certified farms receive a certificate and a sign for the property (FDACS).

The FDACS agriculture statistics page lists a contact line at (850) 617-7317 (FDACS). UF/IFAS Extension, which covers agriculture, natural resources, 4-H and lawn and garden topics, lists staff contacts for each county (UF/IFAS Extension). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the FDACS website.