Information regarding Agriculture & Natural Resources in Champaign County:

 
Named For...French word meaning "open level country"

Established...Act - March 1, 1805
Land Area...428.6 Square Miles
County Seat...Urbana City
Geography...Urbana, OH     micropolitan area
 
Since the 1950’s,  Champaign County has had a modern farming economy. By then we had tractors, herbicides and hybrid corn. As more people moved from the farm,  we required more mechanization to accomplish farm tasks.
 
In 1955 ($16 million income) main farm products were:

Dairy 34% of income
Hogs 20%
Corn 15%
Wheat 8%
Cattle 7%
 
By the mid 2000’s ($52 million income):

Corn 37% of income
Soybeans 28%
Dairy 8%
Hogs 7%
Cattle 7%
 
We shifted from more labor-intensive enterprises like dairy to grain farming. We now operate capital-intensive operations – an average farm today is likely to have $300,000 to 400,000 in equipment inventory alone.  A new combine can cost over $200,000.
 
In 1955, a farm was 155 acres and had 12 cows, 63% was in crops. The county had 1261 dairies.
 
In 2004,  a farm has 224 acres with 86% in crops. This number may be a little deceptive however because many farms today are rented to a larger producer who may have as many as 4-5,000 acres in the farm unit. There are only 30 dairies in the county averaging 63 cows per operation.