The number of farms in the United States in 2008 is estimated at 2.2 million, 0.2 percent fewer than in 2007. Total land in farms, at 919.9 million acres, decreased 1.56 million acres, or 0.2 percent, from 2007. The average farm size was 418 acres, unchanged from the previous year. The decline in the number of farms and land in farms reflects a continuing consolidation in farming operations and diversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses. Farm numbers and land in farms are broken down into five economic sales classes. Farms and ranches are classified into these “sales classes” by summing their sales of agricultural products and government program payments. Sales class breaks occur at $10,000, $100,000, $250,000, and $500,000. Farm numbers declined slightly in the $1,000-$9,999, $10,000-$99,999, and $100,000-$249,999 sales classes. Farm numbers rose slightly in the two largest sales classes. Because of strong commodity prices and rising value of sales many farms and ranches near the top of their sales class in 2007 may have moved into the next higher sales class in 2008 without expanding their operations. The largest percentage changes from 2007 occurred in the smallest and largest sales classes. Farm numbers declined 0.5 percent, to 1.22 million farms, in the $1,000-$9,999 sales class. Meanwhile, the number of farms in the $500,000 and over sales class increased by 4.8 percent to 126,000 farms. The number of farms with less than $100,000 in sales fell 0.6 percent from 2007 while the number of farms with $100,000 or more in sales rose 1.6 percent. Land in farms also shifted from lower sales classes to higher sales classes. In the $1,000-$9,999 sales class, land in farms dropped 1.1 percent, to 106.7 million acres, while land operated by farms in the largest sales class, $500,000 & over in sales, increased 2.4 percent, to 293.1 million acres. The average farm size was unchanged in 2008. However, average farm sizes declined in some of the sales classes. This may have been due to smaller farms moving up to higher sales classes. This report also contains estimates of farm numbers and land in farms for Puerto Rico. The number of farms with sales of $1,000 or more in Puerto Rico was 11,200 in 2008, down 200 farms from 2007. Land in farms, at 470,000 acres, is down 20,000 acres from the previous year. The average farm size in Puerto Rico in 2008 was estimated at 42 acres.