Iowa Farm Facts
In 2010, Iowa led the nation in the production of corn, soybeans, pork and eggs.
Iowa has 92,400 farms. Land in farms covers 30.8 million acres.
Iowa raised more than 2.15 billion bushels of corn in 2010, or 17 percent of the total U.S. corn crop of 12.4 billion bushels.
Iowa raised more than 496 million bushels of soybeans in 2010, or 15 percent of the nation’s 3.3 billion bushels in 2010.
Iowa has 6 hogs for every person in the state. There are nearly 19 million hogs being raised in Iowa. Iowa producers marketed nearly 30 million hogs in 2010.
A hen lays an average of 269 eggs per year. In 2010, Iowa’s egg producers had 54 million layers producing 14.6 billion eggs.
Iowa is ranked second in the nation in red meat production. Iowa ranks fourth in the United States for cattle on feed. As of January 2011, Iowa had 1.38 million cattle on feed.
There was an average of 209,000 milk cows on Iowa farms during 2010. A cow will produce an average of 6.3 gallons of milk each day. That’s more than 2,300 gallons each year.
Iowa ranked 10th in the United States for the number of sheep and lambs on farms. As of January 2011, Iowa had 200,000 sheep and lambs.
Iowa ranked third in the nation for milk goats. As of January 2011, Iowa had 31,000 milk goats.
Iowa ranked seventh in the United States for turkeys marketed with 13.2 million turkeys in 2010.
Iowa’s 40 ethanol plants have a combined annual capacity of 3.7 billion gallons of ethanol annually, more per year than any other state. Iowa produces nearly 30 percent of the nation’s ethanol.
Iowa’s total cash receipts for farm commodities in 2010 totaled more than $23 billion – the second highest in the United States.
Iowa’s total agricultural exports for fiscal year 2010 were valued at more than $7.0 billion, ranking Iowa second in the nation in agricultural exports.
Information sources: National Agricultural Statistics Service, Economic Research Service, Dairy Farming Today and the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Compiled by Malinda Geisler, Growing Family Fun at Geisler Farms www.growingfamilyfun.com/.