The number of farms in North Carolina since 1997 has a decreasing trend line. A count of all farms in North Carolina is collected every 5 years by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service. In 1997, there were 59,120 total farms in North Carolina. In 2002, there 53,930. In 2007, 52,913. In 2012, there were 50,218 farms. In 2017, there were 46,418 farms. And in 2022, the last USDA Census year, there were a total of 42,817 farms in North Carolina.