Kentucky Food and Farm Facts

Agriculture sustained the first settlers of Kentucky in the 1770s, and the business of raising crops and livestock continues to be the backbone of rural Kentucky today. Kentucky is home to a wide variety of agriculture production, from horses and beef cattle to tobacco and corn. Agriculture in Kentucky is one of the state’s leading and most vital industries, contributing about $45.6 billion to Kentucky’s economy each year. Kentucky agriculture is also constantly changing to keep up with consumer demand and the ever-growing world population.

Kentucky is home to 69,425 farms, from large to small. The average farm size in Kentucky is 179 acres, compared to the national average of 463 acres. Kentucky agriculture is dominated by small family farms. About 63 percent of its farms have annual sales of less than $10,000.

Of Kentucky’s 25.4 million acres, just under 50% is considered farmland (12.4 million acres).

Kentucky agricultural cash receipts (sale of crops and livestock) were just over $8 billion in 2023.