A short feature on agriculture in the United States of America

A short feature on agriculture in the United States of America

Photo: Collected

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States, which is a net exporter of food. As of the 2017 census of agriculture, there were 2.04 million farms, covering an area of 900 million acres (1,400,000 mi2), an average of 441 acres (178 hectares) per farm. Agriculture in the United States is highly mechanized, with an average of only one farmer or farm laborer required per square kilometer of farmland for agricultural production.

Even though agricultural activity occurs in every U.S. state, it is particularly concentrated in the Central Valley of California and in the Great Plains, a vast expanse of flat arable land in the center of the nation, in the region west of the Great Lakes and east of the Rocky Mountains. The eastern wetter half is a major corn and soybean-producing region known as the Corn Belt, and the western drier half is known as the Wheat Belt because of its high rate of wheat production. The Central Valley of California produces fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The American South has historically been a large producer of cotton, tobacco, and rice, but it has declined in agricultural production over the past century. Florida leads the nation in citrus production and is the number two producer of oranges in the world behind only Brazil.

The U.S. has led developments in seed improvement, such as hybridization, and in expanding uses for crops from the work of George Washington Carver to bioplastics and biofuels. The mechanization of farming and intensive farming have been major themes in U.S. history, including John Deere's steel plow, Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper, Eli Whitney's cotton gin, and the widespread success of the Fordson tractor and the combine harvester. Modern agriculture in the U.S. ranges from hobby farms and small-scale producers to large commercial farms that cover thousands of acres of cropland or rangeland.

Farm type or majority enterprise type

*Farm type is based on which commodities are the majority crops grown on a farm. Nine common types include:

*Cash grains include corn, soybeans, and other grains (wheat, oats, barley, sorghum), dry edible beans, peas, and rice.

*Tobacco

*Cotton

*Other field crops include peanuts, potatoes, sunflowers, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, broomcorn, popcorn, sugar beets, mint, hops, seed crops, hay, silage, forage, etc. Tobacco and cotton can be included here if not in their own separate category.

*High-value crops include fruits, vegetables, melons, tree nuts, greenhouse, nursery crops, and horticultural specialties.

*Cattle

*Hogs

*Dairy

*Poultry and eggs

One characteristic of the agricultural industry that sets it apart from others is the number of individuals who are self-employed. Frequently, farmers and ranchers are both the principal operator, the individual responsible for successful management and day-to-day decisions, and the primary laborer for their operation. For agricultural workers who sustain an injury, the resultant loss of work has implications for physical health and financial stability.

The United States has over 14,000 certified organic farms, covering more than 5 million acres, though this is less than 1% of total US farmland. The output of these farms has grown substantially since 2011 and exceeded US$7.5 billion in 2016.

Major agricultural products

Tons of United States agriculture production, as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N. in 2003 and 2013 (ranked roughly in order of value):

Other crops appearing in the top 20 at some point in the last 40 years were: tobacco, barley, oats, and, rarely, peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds. Alfalfa and hay would both be in the top ten in 2003 if they were tracked by FAO.

Production

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as melon (872), pumpkin (683), grapefruit (558), cranberry (404), cherry (312), blueberry (255), rye (214), olive (138), and others.

As of 2019, six states—Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oklahoma—have laws banning foreign ownership of farmland. Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma are looking to introduce bills banning foreign ownership as of 2019.

You can read South Asia's famous agricultural magazine  on agricultural reports through this link: https://gfmdhaka.com/

Source: Online/GFMM