produced and can add significantly to farm incomes. Historically, tobacco has been such a crop in
a large part of Appalachia (Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). In
1997, 304 million pounds were produced in the region compared with 216 million pounds in 1987
(although 314 million pounds had been produced in 1964). Nursery and greenhouse production also
have been increasing with $673.1 million of products sold in 1997 versus $49.4 million in 1964; the
numbers of farms selling such products nearly doubled, from 4,912 in 1964 to 8,468 in 1997.
Production of vegetables, however, has declined and the acreage in orchards also has decreased,
although much of this latter decline has been offset by increased yields. Other specialty crops
include Christmas trees and forest products.
The rough terrain of the region results in a relatively large share of the land in farms being
in woodlands, 38.5 percent in 1964. Thus, farms in the region are able to derive considerable
amounts of income from the sale of forest products. In 1964, some 55,690 farms sold over $27.7
million of forest products including standing timber, logs, fence posts, firewood, etc. By 1997, the
sales of such products totaled over $60.2 million although from only 8,606 farms. In addition, sales
of Christmas trees have become more important as a source of income for many farms. In 1964,
sales of 1.5 million trees from 1,844 farms in six states were reported in the Census of Agriculture
(no sales were reported for the southern states of the region). By 1997, Christmas tree sales were
reported by 3,511 farms from all states in the region except Mississippi; these amounted to a value
of nearly $26.5 million. In addition, many persons in the region harvest and sell ginseng, goldenseal
and other forest products.
Recreational enterprises and other forms of service activities also provide significant numbers
of farms in the region with opportunities to enhance their incomes, although data on such activities
are not readily available. Among these are activities such as fee fishing, renting access to land to
hunters, leasing land to hunting clubs, appreciative (nonconsumptive) use of wildlife, nature study,
bed and breakfast or other lodging facilities, etc. (Grafton et al. 1990). Such enterprises correspond,
to some extent, with areas that have developed tourism as sources of income and tend to be in areas
closer to population centers or that have prominent tourist attractions. In 1964, the Census of
Agriculture reported that 2,505 farms in Appalachia received an average of $1,273 from recreational
enterprises. In 1997, this income was included in “other sources of a farm related income” which
included patronage refunds and cooperative dividends with an average of $1,535 for 19,758 farms;
thus, income from recreational enterprises probably increased but it cannot be separated from the
other sources.
Off-Farm Work and Income
Farm income is not an adequate indicator of the well being of farm families since a majority
of the farms in both the U.S. and Appalachia receive much of their incomes from off-farm sources
including wages and salaries, business profits, investment income, social security, welfare, and/or
other payments. In 1998, for example, the average total household income of farm families for the
United States was $59,734 of which $52,734 (88 percent) came from nonfarm sources (ERS 2000).
These data are based on a national survey by ERS and are not available at county or even state levels.
However, since 1991, this information has been reported for agricultural production regions
including an Appalachian region consisting of the entire states of West Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. While not strictly comparable to the ARC, the data do