Facts about Champaign County Agriculture:

Since the 1950’s, Champaign County has had a modern farming economy. By then we had tractors, herbicides and hybrid corn. As more people moved from the farm,  we required more mechanization to accomplish farm tasks. We have since shifted from more labor-intensive enterprises like dairy to grain farming. We now operate capital-intensive operations – an average farm today has $147,500 in equipment inventory.  A new combine can cost over $350,000.
 
In 1955, an average Champaign County farm had 155 acres, had 12 cows with 63% in crops.

In 1955, there was $16 million in income and the main farm products were:

 
In 2012,  an average Champaign County farm had 218 acres with 87% in crops. This number may be a little deceptive however because many farms today are rented to a larger producer who may have as many as 4-5,000 acres in the farm unit. There are 16 dairies in the county averaging 119 cows per operation.

In 2012, commodity sales reached $130.4 million, which resulted in $11.3 million in receipts.