THE total value of agricultural sales in the CNMI was $2.8 million with an average value of $ 8,731 per farm, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
NASS released the 2023 Census of Agriculture data for the CNMI on Feb. 28, 2025.
There were 316 farms in the CNMI, up 25% from the last census, NASS noted.
Land in farms totaled 2,833 acres, with an average farm size of 9 acres.
The 2023 Census stated that vegetables and melons represented the largest category of production, with sales of $1.3 million.
The census defined a farm as any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, in 2023.
The 2023 census was the eighth in the Northern Marianas.
The first was taken in 1970 in conjunction with the decennial census, a practice that continued in 1980 and 1990. The 1997 Census was the first agriculture census taken in the CNMI that was not done as part of the population census.
The Census of Agriculture data is used by federal and local governments, agribusinesses, organizations, and others “to support funding research and programs to improve farming techniques and equipment, building infrastructure for high-speed internet, providing effective production and distribution systems as well as natural disaster preparation, response, and recovery assistance,” the USDA stated.
The data included root crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and nursery crops harvested for sale in 2023 and 2018.
The data on poultry, livestock and its products, fish and other aquaculture for 2023 and 2018 was also included in the census.
The full 2023 Census of Agriculture in the CNMI can be accessed at https://shorturl.at/a3hWF
