As the 1900s progressed, a number of trends were apparent in the way the nation’s farms dealt with the massive changes experienced during this time, including the move away from farms and into cities, in addition to changes in technology allowing for greater yield.
As the population steadily grew, the number of acres of farmland increased, while the number of farms started to decrease after 1920, after a drastic rise in the last 2 decades. Thus, the number of acres per farm started to increase as well, and this trend has continued into today. The farm household population and that population per farm stayed about the same until 1950, where both saw about a 20% drop, likely due to the migration towards cities. The percentage of people living on farms was cut in half by 1950 from where it was in 1920 for the same reason, and as people developed better farming technology, they needed fewer acres of farmland per person.