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crop farming

3 of the Biggest U.S. Crop-Farming Operations: What They Grow

A 2020 feature profiled three major U.S. crop-farming operations, reporting their acreage, crops, and different approaches to operating or leasing farmland.

By TheFinanceBase Team 3 min read
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The three operations profiled in a 2020 Successful Farming feature were The Lawrence Group (115,000 acres), the Scully family’s tenant-farming holdings (106,725 acres), and Larsen Farms (87,104 acres). Those are historical figures, not a current ranking of U.S. farmers. The feature focused on crop farms—not grazing ranches—and its examples describe different ways acreage can be operated, leased, or held.

What “biggest” means in this list

The figures below come from a feature published October 27, 2020, which asked who operated some of the largest working crop farms in the United States and what they grew. Its scope excluded grasslands and grazing ranches. The acreage figures should therefore be read as reported in that article, not as verified current totals or a comprehensive ranking of all agricultural businesses. Successful Farming’s 2020 feature

Acreage can describe land owned, land leased to tenants, or land operated by a farm business. Those measures are not interchangeable, and acreage alone does not establish revenue or production volume.

The three operations profiled in 2020

Operation Acreage reported in 2020 Crops or operation
The Lawrence Group 115,000 acres Citrus, corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, wine grapes, and winter wheat
Scully family 106,725 acres Tenant farming; the feature describes land leased to tenant farmers
Larsen Farms 87,104 acres Potatoes and alfalfa

The Lawrence Group: a diversified agribusiness portfolio

The 2020 feature described Gaylon Lawrence Jr.’s Lawrence Group as a diverse agribusiness portfolio with holdings in multiple U.S. locations. It reported 42,000 contiguous acres of farmland around Wilson, Arkansas, within the broader 115,000-acre figure. The article listed citrus, corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, wine grapes, and winter wheat among the crops. These are figures and descriptions from the 2020 profile, not independently updated totals.

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The Scully family: acreage farmed by tenants

The feature reported 106,725 acres associated with the Scully family and described the family as leasing land to tenant farmers. It traced the holdings through four generations and said family interests had been divided through trusts. This model separates landholding from day-to-day farming: the acreage figure does not mean the family itself performs all crop operations.

Larsen Farms: potatoes and alfalfa

The article reported 87,104 acres for Larsen Farms, a potato and alfalfa operation. It described Blaine Larsen as having begun with an 80-acre purchase near Hamer, Idaho. At the time of the feature, Blaine and his two sons oversaw operations in Idaho and Texas, while his brother Richard ran the alfalfa hay business. The profile said the business handled growing, storing, processing, and delivery. These family roles and operational details reflect the article’s 2020 account and should not be assumed to describe the business today.

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Why these examples are not a current national ranking

The 2020 feature supplies three named crop-farming examples, but the available national farm data do not provide a current, comparable ranking of the largest named crop operators. USDA’s Economic Research Service reports farm-type distributions rather than a list of individual operators.

For 2024, USDA ERS reported that family farms made up 97% of U.S. farms, operated 91% of agricultural land, and accounted for 85% of production value. Small family farms represented 86% of farms and generated 17% of production value; large-scale family farms represented 5% of farms and accounted for 50% of production value. These are national statistics by farm type, not measures of the three operations above. USDA ERS farm-structure data

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USDA ERS’s 2025 edition of America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance, published February 10, 2026, draws on recent Agricultural Resource Management Survey data. The agency recorded a February 17 correction to a figure legend and said no other text or figures were affected. The publication offers current farm-structure context, but not a replacement top-three list of crop operators. USDA ERS, America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance, 2025 Edition

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Why private landowner rankings answer a different question

The Land Report’s 2026 ranking estimates private land ownership, not acres currently farmed or agricultural output. It lists Stan Kroenke at 2.7 million acres, the Emmerson family at 2.44 million, and John Malone at 2.2 million. Those holdings cannot be compared directly with the crop-operation acreage in the 2020 feature. The Land Report 100

Likewise, a 2025 Land Report roundup placed King Ranch heirs at No. 8 with 911,000 Texas acres. That is ranch and landholding context—not evidence that King Ranch belongs in a ranking of the largest crop-farming operations. The Land Report’s 2025 roundup

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