Nov 08 2008
United States Agriculture Facts
The United States is one of the largest exporters of agricultural products. If you’ve ever wondered just how big a player the United States is in the agriculture sector, consider the following information from the Farm Bureau :
- About 17 percent of raw U.S. agriculture products are exported yearly.
- One-fourth of the world’s beef and nearly one-fifth of the world’s grain, milk and eggs are produced in the United States.
- One in three U.S. farm acres is planted for export, and 25 percent of gross farm income comes directly from exports.
- With modern methods, one acre of land in the United States (about the size of a football field) can produce: 42,000 lbs. of strawberries, 11,000 heads of lettuce, 25,400 lbs. of potatoes, 8,900 lbs. of sweet corn, or 640 lbs. of cotton lint.
- American consumers spend the lowest percentage of their annual income on food - around 10 percent.
- The agricultural industry employs 20 percent of America’s workforce, or approximately 21 million people.
- Farmers and ranchers are the first environmentalists, maintaining and improving the soil and natural resources to pass on to future generations.
- Agricultural land provides habitat for 75 percent of the nation’s wildlife.
This information is gathered from all kinds of farming operations, both small farms and large ones. Most of the milk and egg production comes from small farms- perhaps just like the one you own.
If you’ve ever been in doubt about the contributions a small farmer makes, one only has to look at these statistics to see the big picture. Small farmers are an integral part of the United States economy.
~~Charlotte
