The visualization above uses data from the 2012 Census of
Agriculture to profile the agricultural activity of the Bear River region. You
can adjust the filter to view individual counties or groups of counties as well
as change the year to 2007 to see how things have changed since the last Census
of Agriculture. To view the profile of the whole state, select “Statewide”
alone.
As a whole, Bear River had more than 2,600 farms in 2012
representing more than 14 percent of the state’s farms and about 17 percent of
the state’s farm acreage. The bar chart in the center suggests that of those
farms, more than 1,800, or about 70 percent, were small to mid-sized farms with
less than 180 acres.
The title above the map at the right shows that roughly 36
percent, or 1.85 million acres, of Bear River’s 5 million acres of land are
used for agriculture. The pie chart at the bottom-left displays that about 1.24
million acres of that are pasture and rangeland while only about half a million
are cropland, highlighting the importance of livestock in the region.
In terms of value, Bear River’s agricultural sales composed
more than 19 percent of the statewide total. The second pie chart, at the
bottom-right shows that of the $345 million in agricultural sales in 2012 more
than 65 percent was from the sale of livestock and related products. Nearly $100
million in cattle sales and $100 million in milk sales composed the largest
proportion of that. Of the crops sold, the largest category, in terms of value,
was hay, again highlighting the importance of livestock in the region.
