Acknowledgments - New Hampshire Employment Securityin Manchester and Nashua. Some interesting regional comparisons: More people are in covered agricultural industry employment in Portsmouth

Acknowledgments

Annette Nielsen, Labor Market Analyst, prepared this publication. For questions regarding thispublication, please contact her at (603) 229-4427, or e-mail her at [email protected]

The following Department personnel also contributed to the preparation of this report:

Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau:Anita Josten, Research AnalystMichael Argiropolis, Labor Market Analyst, Projections/Staffing PatternsElisabeth Richardson, Program Assistant

NHES Reproduction Center:Douglas Hamer, Supervisor of ReproductionScott Koblich, Offset Press Operator

This report was prepared by the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau to highlight aNew Hampshire industry and its occupations in demand. It is published in cooperation with theEmployment and Training Administration, US Department of Labor.

For more information about our publications, visit our Web site at: www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/,call (603) 228-4124, or write:

ELMI Publications32 South Main Street

Concord NH, 03301-4857

Agricultural Trends in New Hampshire November 2003Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau of New Hampshire Employment Security32 South Main Street, Concord, NH 03301-4857

4

ome people have a concern thatNew Hampshire continues to lose primeand locally important farmland to eco-

nomic factors and development pressures.1

Potential conversion of farmland is a concernbecause agriculture in New Hampshire is animportant element in open-space land use, whichhelps maintain the Granite State's scenic ruralcharacter and is the hallmark of New Hamp-shire's quality of life.2 Agricultural Census datafrom U.S. Department of Agriculture show thattotal farmland in New Hampshire has beenmore than halved between 1969 and 1987.

Studies shows that the mix of farm products ischanging and that non-food products (e.g.,greenhouse and nursery) have become one of theprimary cash crops in New Hampshire.3 This

change in agricultural products has affectedemployment in the agricultural industry.

ow big is the agriculturalbusiness in New Hampshire

According to New Hampshire Department ofAgriculture, Markets & Food the sale value of theagricultural industry is nearly $700 million. Thecommercial farms in New Hampshire are man-aging over 150,000 acres of cropland plus anadditional 250,000 additional acres devoted topasture, maple and Christmas tree production,conservation and other agricultural uses. Buthow big an employer is agriculture? Is agricul-ture a growing industry? These are some of thequestions that will be addressed.

www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/ Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau page 1

1 Citizen Panel on the Future of Food in New England, Sponsored by the University of New Hampshire, Office of Sustainability Programs andCooperative Extension, June 2, 2003, p.4.

2 Preserving Rural Character: The Agricultural Connection, NH Office of State Planning, OSP Technical Bulletin #6, revised, Winter 2000, p.1.3 Northeast Farm to Food - Understanding Our Region's Food System, The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, September 2002, p.63.4 There might be an overlap in the data from employment in the agricultural productions industries and hired labor.

Crops Livestock150 days or more

Less than 150 days

total full time

1987 2,220 595 301 n/a n/a 2,515 1,1531992 2,452 657 345 1,351 3,183 2,445 1,2041997 3,270 837 467 1,386 3,696 2,937 1,260

Crops Livestock150 days or more

Less than 150 days

total full time

Statewide 3,270 837 467 1,386 3,696 2,937 1,260Belknap 151 n n 49 169 184Carroll 131 n 0 47 168 177Cheshire 137 n n 204 208 293Coos 12 n n 54 137 185Grafton 220 n n 89 498 406Hillsborough 1,031 96 n 231 630 391Merrimack 383 239 29 308 571 413Rockingham 727 225 39 189 665 407Strafford 258 192 n 108 302 235Sullivan 101 26 70 107 348 246

Agricultural Productions

Hired Labor Operators

Operators

Census of Agriculture

Agricultural Productions

1997

Agricultural services


Employment and Wage data Census of Agriculture

Employment and Wage data

Hired Labor

page 2 Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/

In 1987 there were 2,515 farms in the state. Thenumber of farms decreased by three percent to2,445 in 1992 and then increased by 20 percentto 2,937 in 1997. And as mentioned earlier totalnumber of registered commercial farms is todaymore than 3,100. The number of full time farmsincreased from 1,153 farms in 1987 to 1,260farms in 1997, so the majority of net new farmswere not operated as full-time farms.

The overall trend seems to be true for most of thecounties in New Hampshire, except from Carroll,Coos and Strafford counties. These three countieshad a steady increase in number of farms, anddid not dip in the 1992 Census of Agriculture.

In 2000 total taxable wages in Agriculture,forestry and fishing were $130 million. Consid-ering that this amount only accounts for lessthan one percent of the total taxable wages forNew Hampshire, it can be concluded that agri-culture is not a big employer. Because mostfarmers are self-employed and use unpaid familyworkers as well as seasonal and migrant workersa lot of the employment in Agriculture is em-ployment not covered by Unemployment Insur-ance and therefore not included in taxablewages.

By comparing data from New Hampshire De-partment of Agriculture, Markets & Food onerealizes a big difference between the 120 unitsthat are reported as tax paying employers in2002 within the agricultural productions indus-tries and the approximately 3,100 individualoperations that are registered by Department ofAgriculture. Another example is to compareNew Hampshire Agricultural Department's 174registered dairy farms with the 50 units reportedin 2002 for Unemployment Insurance tax underthe industry Agricultural production for live-stock (which also include turkey, poultry, andegg production facilities).

A full picture of agriculture in New Hampshirerequires using data from different sources,primarily US Census of Agriculture and CoveredEmployment and Wages Database (ES-202).

arms and farmlandin New Hampshire

Data from the US Census of Agriculture from1997 will help provide a better understandingof how many farms and how much land is usedfor farming in New Hampshire. The 1997 Agri-cultural Census showed that only 7.2 percent of approximated total land area in New Hamp-shire belongs to farms. Most of the land inNew Hampshire is covered with trees. Accordingto New Hampshire Timberland Owners Associa-tion nearly 83 percent of the state's land-base iscovered with trees.5

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

BelknapCarroll

Coos

Hillsborough

RockinghamStraffordSullivan

Cheshire

Grafton

Merrimack

1992

1997

BelknapCarroll

Coos

Hillsborough


Cheshire

Grafton

Merrimack

BelknapCarroll

Coos

Hillsborough


Cheshire

Grafton

Merrimack

5 New Hampshire's Current Use program: The Cornerstone of ForestlandConservation, New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, http://www.nhtoa.org/nhcurrentuse.htm, accessed September 19, 2003.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 1997 Census of Agriculturehttp://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census97/county/farms/nhfarms.xls

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

1987


Within the same time-period (1987-1997), thetotal area of land used for farming decreased bythree percent. This means that the average size offarms in New Hampshire decreased by 17 per-cent from 169 to 141 acres. It is important topoint out that the total area of farmland in-creased from 1992 to 1997 by eight percent butdid not get back to the 1987 level of farmland.The 2002 Agricultural Census, when published,will show whether the downward trend since1964 was broken in 1992.

Overall it looks like the number of farms is onthe rise even though the area of land used forfarming might continue to decrease. This sug-gests that the land used for farming is being usedmore intensively or as an avocation.

This trend of an increase in smaller sized farmsin New Hampshire can also be shown by that theaverage estimated market value of land and

buildings per farm went down six percent from$342,607 in 1992 to $323,523 in 1997.

he IndustryThe industry division for Agriculture,

forestry and fishing within the Standard Indus-trial Classification (SIC) system is divided intothe following 5 areas:6

Agricultural productions - crops

Agricultural productions - livestock


Forestry

Fishing, hunting, and trapping

In 2000 total covered employment in the indus-try was 5,682 employed by 849 units. Onlythree percent were not employed in Agriculturalproductions or Agricultural services. To showdevelopment in agricultural employment onlyemployment and wage patterns for Agriculturalproductions and Agricultural services will bedescribed.

Agricultural productions for crops in-clude farms, orchards, greenhouses andnurseries that primarily produce crops,plants and small trees.

Agricultural productions for livestockinclude farms, ranches, dairies, egg andpoultry production facilities that prima-rily are engaged in the feeding of livestockfor a future sale.

Agricultural services include veterinaryservices, farm labor and managementservices, and landscape and horticulturalservices.

The average annual increase in employment forAgricultural services was seven percent for the1991-2000 period. Employment in Agricultural

Source: 1997 Census of Agriculture, County data, New Hampshire, Table 6, pp.163-164.

Source: 1997 Census of Agriculture, State data, New Hampshire, Table 1, p.10.

6 The SIC code structure has recently been replaced with a newclassification system called NAICS (North American IndustryClassification system). Agricultural Services was replaced by a newcategory called Agriculture and Forestry Support Services, andLogging was added to the category Forestry.


Hillsborough Rockingham Merrimack Strafford

Agricultural Productions – Crops 83 178 229 198

Agricultural Productions – Livestock n 44 43 n

Agricultural Services 1,299 936 521 342

production for livestock increased in the sameperiod with an average five percent annually,whereas the average annual increase in employ-ment for Agricultural production for crops wasthree percent.

here is the agriculturalbusiness located?

The agricultural industry is represented through-out the state. More than half of the employmentis located within Hillsborough, Rockingham andMerrimack counties. Approximately one third ofthe employment within Hillsborough is locatedin Manchester and Nashua. Some interestingregional comparisons:

More people are in covered agriculturalindustry employment in Portsmouth thanin the whole of Coos County

Covered agricultural industry employ-ment in Manchester is about the same asthat of Carroll County

The regional data show that the agriculturalindustry is very strong in New Hampshire'surbanized areas. But as the following tableshows, the high number of employment in theurbanized areas can be explained with a strongpresence of employment in Agricultural services.

In general the Covered Employment and Wagesdatabase (ES-202) for the agricultural industryis heavily based on data from Agricultural

services. The data from the Agricultural produc-tions does not give a true picture of agriculturalemployment, as a high percentage of employersare not found in Covered Employment.

After knowing that the employment data for theagricultural industry is heavily weighted towardAgricultural services, it is interesting to see thatemployment in the agricultural industry isfollowing a traditional agricultural seasonalemployment pattern. In other words employ-ment in agriculture as an industry is still a usefulindicator on the economic status of agriculture.

arm Labor andMigrant Workers

As mentioned earlier, the data on agriculture asan industry does not give a complete picture ofagricultural employment. One reason is thatmigrant workers and farm labor are typicallynot covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI)

n indicates that the data does not meet disclosure standards.


10 Unpublished data from Current Population Survey, Bureau ofLabor Statistics (BLS), obtained data from Jim Caplan onSeptember 24, 2003.

11 SOC code - a code used by Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) todefine occupations uniformly and to organize occupational datalogically.

and are therefore not included in the statisticaldata from Covered Employment and Wages (ES-202). Another reason is that 87.6 percent of totalfarms in New Hampshire are owned by anindividual or a family and therefore self-em-ployed and not included in the ES-202 data.7

Current Population Survey, an annual surveyconducted by U.S. Census Bureau, estimates thenumber of self-employed, hereunder self-em-ployed in agriculture. Their estimate stayedabout the same since 1997 rounded at 4,000self-employed in agriculture.8 To get a moreaccurate picture of hired agricultural employ-ment additional data from the U.S. 1997 Agri-cultural Census will be required.

The 1997 Agricultural Census showed that 907farms hired farm labor. The total number ofhired workers was 5,082 in 1997 and they werepaid $30 million in total. About three-quartersof all hired labor worked less than 150 daysduring the year.

Another unknown labor force in agriculture isthe number of migrant workers. Some migrantworkers might be included in the 1997 Agricul-tural Census data as hired farm labor. Under theWagner-Peyser Act migrant workers are groupedtogether with seasonal farmworkers and esti-mated during peak growing season to rangefrom 50 to 200 workers.9

In the Agricultural Census the number of farmoperators equals the number of farms, whichmeans that only one person per farm is included.Unfortunately, unpaid family workers are notincluded in the Agricultural Census data.

In 1997 there were 2,937 farm operators inNew Hampshire. Of these, 517 were females andonly 6 were not White. Only 1,260 were consid-ered full time farmers. A third of the full timefarmers were age 65 and over and about anotherthird of the full time farmers were between 45-64 years old. The average age of the full timefarmers was 54.3 years. Farmers in New Hamp-shire are substantially older than the rest of thestate’s labor force as the average age of theNew Hampshire civilian labor force in 2002 was40.9 years.10 Since 1978 there has been a steadyincrease in the average age of the full time farm-ers, so a generational change in farm populationcan be expected.

taffing pattern forAgricultural Services

In 2000, employment in the industry Agricul-tural services made up 74 percent of the totalAgriculture, forestry and fishing industry. Staff-ing patterns will be used to get a better under-standing of what types of occupations are em-ployed within the industry Agricultural services.Using the Standard Occupational Classification(SOC) code the occupational divisions presentwithin Agricultural services range from manage-ment, business and sales to healthcare (includesveterinarians) and landscaping.11

7 Farmers are though considered an employer under theUnemployment Tax law, when having wages of $20,000 or morefor agricultural labor in a calendar quarter or have 10 or moreemployees in 20 different weeks during a calendar year.

8 Unpublished data from Current population Survey, Bureau ofLabor Statistics (BLS), obtained data from Ed Saddler onSeptember 17, 2003.

9 Estimated by Francis I. Morrissey, State Monitor Advocate, AlienLabor Certification, Employment Services Bureau, NHEmployment Security. Under the Wagner-Peyser Act employmentservices are provided to the agricultural community, bothemployers and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The purpose ofestimating seasonal and migrant farmworkers is part of theoutreach program in order to get an idea of how many workersmight need employment services such as counseling and training.


Half of the people employed within Agriculturalservices are involved in landscaping services. Thestrong presence of landscaping services reflects astrong housing market and new housing devel-opment. In a time with economic confidence andrising real estate value, both businesses andindividual property owners invested in landscap-ing.

ages for AgriculturalWorkers

The average weekly wage for the agriculturalindustry division is 35 percent lower than theaverage for private employment. Is the bigdifference explainable? - Maybe part of thedifference is because seasonal workers are in-cluded? Seasonal workers are not paid as muchas regular farmworkers so average weekly wagefigures show lower than what it is in reality.

Wages in the industry for production of cropsand Agricultural services generally followed afour and five percent annual increase, respec-tively, likewise the average annual increase forprivate employment. Wages in the industry forproduction of livestock went up and down butincreased 23 percent over the entire period andwas the industry, within agriculture, closest tothe wage level of the private industry.

The legal binding wage determined by Depart-ment of Labor for migrant workers in the state of

New Hampshire is set to be $8.53 per hour in2003, which equals an average weekly wage of$341.2 based on a 40 hour week. Farmers em-ploying migrant agricultural workers throughthe agricultural recruitment system are requiredto offer the same pay to the U.S. agriculturalworkers as well.12

arket value ofAgricultural Products

According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture, thetotal market value of agricultural products soldin 1997 was $149,467,000. Agricultural prod-ucts from crop sales accounted for 49 percentand agricultural products for livestock ac-counted for the remaining 51 percent.

In economic terms farming in New Hampshire isincreasing as the average market value of agri-cultural products sold per farm increased ninepercent from $46,654 in 1992 to $50,891 in1997. This increase for total New Hampshirehides substantial differences between the coun-ties.

First of all there is a big difference in the marketvalue of sold products. In 1997 the averagemarket value of sales per farm in CheshireCounty was $93,972 whereas the average valueof sold products per farm for Belknap andCarroll counties was about $20,000.

Furthermore, Belknap, Carroll, Coos, Graftonand Hillsborough all had a decrease in averagevalue of sold products per farm from 1992 to1997, whereas Rockingham and Merrimackcounties had large increases in average value ofsold products per farm at 21 percent and 39 per-cent respectively.

Merrimack is the largest agricultural producingcounty in New Hampshire. Out of the $29million agricultural products sold in the county,$17 million came from sales of nursery andgreenhouse crops. In Rockingham County six

12 Changes in the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), U.S. Departmentof Labor, Employment & Training Administration, February 27,2003.


million, out of the total $16 million agriculturalproducts sold, were sales from nursery andgreenhouse crops. For both Merrimack andRockingham counties sales from nursery andgreenhouse crops were the number one com-modity.

Cheshire was the second largest agriculturalproducing county in the state. Out of the $27.5million agricultural products sold, $24 millioncame from sales of livestock and poultry. Poultryand poultry products were number one com-modity but the actual sales figure were notpublished due to confindentiality. Dairy prod-ucts ranked second and accounted for $6.7million. Cattle and calves ranked as the fourthmost sold commodity and accounted for $0.8million. The numbers from dairy and cattle salescan be used to help estimate the sales value ofpoultry to be around $16 million.13

Belknap and Carroll counties show very similarnumbers for sold agricultural products. In totaleach county only sold for about $3.6 million.Nursery and greenhouse crops were number onecommodity in both counties and accounted forabout $1.2 million. Dairy products were thesecond most sold commodity in both countiesand were $0.7 million in Belknap County and$0.8 million in Carroll County.

It's interesting that the nursery and greenhousecrops were number one commodity in both thelargest and smallest agricultural producingcounties. It is therefore not the commodityproduced, that determines how lucrative thefarm is but more the farm's location. The LakesRegion and the White Mountains are in otherwords not so conducive to farming.

hanges inFarm Products

Even though farmland continues to be used forfarming, the agricultural production seems to bechanging, at least according to the 1997 Agricul-tural Census and annual statistics from NationalAgricultural Statistics Service (NASS) on agricul-tural products.

The 1997 Agricultural Census shows that theamount of harvested apples has gone down from52 million pounds in 1992 to 40 millionpounds in 1997. According to the Annual Agri-cultural Statistics the production of apples inNew Hampshire fluctuated over the last 12years. But from 1999 to 2002 apple productionhas decreased from 42 million pounds to 24million pounds, which is a 43 percent decrease.It is important to note that the production ofapples more than halved from 1997 to 1998 andthen bounced back in 1999. The reason for thisdrastic decline was due to harsh weather in the

Source: 1997 Census of Agriculture, State Profile, United States Departmentof Agriculture, New England Agricultural Statistics Service,http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census97/profiles/nh/nh.htm .

13 1997 census of Agriculture, State Profile, United States Department ofAgriculture, New England Agricultural Statistics Service, http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census97/profiles/nh/nhpb003.pdf.

Source: USDA-NASS Agricultural Statistics 2003, Table 5-3 and New EnglandAgricultural Statistics 2001, New England Agricultural StatisticsService, USDA, p.54. Utilized production is the amount sold plus quantitiesused at home or held in storage and include both fresh market andprocessing utilization apples.


spring and early summer, which prohibitedpollination and made disease control difficult.14

Total value of agricultural products comingfrom sales of nursery and greenhouse crops, cutChristmas trees harvested, mushrooms, and sod(grown for sale) was 45 million dollars in 1997,an 87 percent increase in sales since 1992. Thenumber of farms producing these crops in-creased from 322 in 1992 to 619 in 1997.

The total value for floriculture crops was $35.3million in 1997, an increase of 79 percent since1992. From 1992 to 1997 the number of farmsthat produced floriculture crops also increasedfrom 240 to 292.

In New Hampshire the inventory of milk cowswent down from 19,000 in 1999 to 17,000 headin 2002, which is a 11 percent decrease. In 1997,1998 and 1999 the number of milk cow headswent up from 20,000 head in 1997 to 21,000 in1998 and then down at 19,000 head in 1999. Itseems like the milk cow production, after apositive cycle leading up to 1998, is declining.

onclusionProducing nursery and greenhouse crops

is the most lucrative business in both the largestand smallest agricultural producing counties.

As the overall market value of sold agriculturalproducts is on the rise and as there is an increasein part-time farmers, farming seems to be agrowing business in New Hampshire. With totalnumber of farms in New Hampshire on the riseand with an increase in farmland acreage, farm-land in New Hampshire does not seem threat-ened to be converted into non-agricultural uses.

The agricultural industry has grown over the lastten years through adaptation to consumer needsand in response to competition. It is importantto understand that the farming industry is depen-dent on the urbanized area. Therefore develop-ment is not necessarily bad for the agriculturalindustry, but should be looked upon as anopportunity to expand. Urban growth is notnecessarily hurting the agricultural industry.In fact our analysis shows that the agriculturalindustry has increased due to a “blooming”housing market. A non-planned and not con-trolled urban growth can though destroy theagricultural landscape. Legislative measures topreserve open space land are therefore stillimportant in order to protect the pristineNew Hampshire rural picture. But growth in theagricultural industry is still a part of theNew Hampshire agricultural economicsustainability.

Source: 1997 Census of Agriculture, State data, New Hampshire, Table 44, p. 40.

14 New England Agricultural Statistics, 1999, NASS, p.54.

The following are available in hard copy from the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau ofNew Hampshire Employment Security. Many of these publications are also available at our Web site:<www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/>

New Hampshire Employment Projections by Industry and OccupationLicensed, Certified, and Registered Occupations in New HampshireNew Hampshire Job Outlook and Locator Occupations by IndustryVital Signs: Economic and Social Indicators for New HampshireNew Hampshire Occupational Employment and WagesNew Hampshire Career and Industry profiles

Summary of the New Hampshire EconomyUser's Guide to Labor Market InformationEconomic Conditions in New HampshireSTAT: New Hampshire Resource PapersNew Hampshire Commuting PatternsLocal Area Unemployment StatisticsNew Hampshire Affirmative ActionIn Brief: Employment ProjectionsNew Hampshire County ProfileNew Hampshire Job NotesNew Hampshire SnapshotNew Hampshire BenefitsRetirement 2002Childcare 2000NHCRN News

The following are only available at our Web site: <www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/>:

Employment and Wage Data for the Eighteen Labor Market AreasNew Hampshire Unemployment Insurance Historical DataHigh Tech Employment in New HampshireNew Hampshire Community ProfilesFirms by Size in New Hampshire

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Documents

Acknowledgments - New Hampshire Employment Securityin Manchester and Nashua. Some interesting regional comparisons: More people are in covered agricultural industry employment in Portsmouth