In 1986, when the most recent agricultural census was conducted, Florida had the eighth highest farm product sales of any state in the nation, only surpassed by California and several states in the nation's agricultural heartland.
Farms are largest in counties surrounding Lake Okeechobee where corporateÊfarming of vegetables, sugarcane, citrus, and raising of cattle is most common. In Collier County the Collier family owns approximately 900,000 acres, some of which it farms and some of which it leases. There are three farms in Palm Beach County with acreage of 75,000 or more. North and central Florida have smaller farms. Small-scale farmers came to these two areas in the last century, and many of their descendants continue as owner operators of their family farms.
