According to the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce, agriculture is the number one industry in Bedford County.
The USDA accumulates and publishes statistical information every five years. The most current information that is available comes from the 2012 Census of Agriculture (2017 not published at the time of this writing). In 2012 there were 1,210 farms in operation in Bedford County. That was an increase of 3% from the 1,173 farms recorded five years earlier in 2007. Although there was a slight increase in the number of farms, there was actually a 1% decrease in the land acreage in farm use. Also, the average size of a farm decreased by 4% from 180 acres per farm in 2007 to 173 acres per farm in 2012.
The market value of products sold by farmers increased 35% from 2007 to 2012. In 2007 the market value amounted to $90,858,000 while in 2012 the market value amounted to $122,820,000. That could be broken down to crop and livestock sales. The crop sales amounted to $36,473,000, which was 30% of the total. The livestock sales amounted to $86,347,000, which was the remaining 70% of the total.
In the production of grains, oilseeds, dry beans and dry peas, Bedford County ranked twenty-fourth in the state. In regard to vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes, the county ranked fifty in the state. Bedford County ranked fourth in the production of fruits, tree nuts and berries. In cut Christmas trees, Bedford County ranked fourteenth in the state. Bedford County ranked twentieth in the production of poultry and eggs. The county ranked fourteenth in the production of cattle and calves and tenth in the production of milk in the state. In hogs and pigs, Bedford County ranked twentieth and in sheep, goats, wool, mohair and milk Bedford County ranked twelfth in the state. In horses, ponies, mules, burros and donkeys, Bedford County ranked eleventh in the state. It ranked eighth in aquaculture in the state of Pennsylvania.
In terms of ethnicity, of the 1,210 farms in Bedford County, 1,883 were owned and operated by white families. Five were owned and operated by families of American Indian ethnicity. One black family owned and operated a farm and the remaining six farms were owned and operated by families comprised of more than one racial ethnicity.
