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Agriculture in the United States

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A wheat harvest on the Palouse
in north central Idaho
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shows a tractor plowing a crop field
Worker overseeing cotton gin, ca. 1940s

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States, which is a net exporter of food.[1] As of the 2017 census of agriculture, there were 2.04 million farms, covering an area of 900 million acres (1,400,000 sq mi), an average of 441 acres (178 hectares) per farm.[2]

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.

Although 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.[3] 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.

History[edit]

Main article: History of agriculture in the United States
Cotton farming on a Southern plantation in 1921

Corn, turkeys, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, and sunflower seeds constitute some of the major holdovers from the agricultural endowment of the Americas.

Colonists had more access to land in the colonial United States than they did in Europe. The organization of labor was complex including free persons, slaves and indentured servants depending on the regions where either slaves or poor landless laborers were available to work on family farms.[4]

European agricultural practices greatly affected the New England landscape. Colonists brought livestock over from Europe which caused many changes to the land. Grazing animals required a lot of land and food and the act of grazing itself destroyed native grasses, which were being replaced by European species. New species of weeds were introduced and began to thrive as they were capable of withstanding the grazing of animals, whereas native species could not.[5]

The practices associated with keeping livestock also contributed to the deterioration of the forests and fields. Colonists would cut down the trees and then allow their cattle and livestock to graze freely in the forest and never plant more trees. The animals trampled and tore up the ground so much as to cause long-term destruction and damage.[5]

Soil exhaustion was a huge problem in New England agriculture. Farming with oxen did allow the colonist to farm more land but it increased erosion and decreased soil fertility. This was due to deeper plow cuts in the soil that allowed the soil more contact with oxygen causing nutrient depletion. In grazing fields in New England, the soil was being compacted by the large number of cattle and this did not give the soil enough oxygen to sustain life.[5]

In the United States, farms spread from the colonies westward along with the settlers. In cooler regions, wheat was often the crop of choice when lands were newly settled, leading to a "wheat frontier" that moved westward over the course of years. Also very common in the antebellum Midwest was farming corn while raising hogs, complementing each other especially since it was difficult to get grain to market before the canals and railroads. After the "wheat frontier" had passed through an area, more diversified farms including dairy cattle generally took its place. Warmer regions saw plantings of cotton and herds of beef cattle. In the early colonial South, raising tobacco and cotton was common, especially through the use of slave labor until the Civil War. With an established source for labor, and the development of the cotton gin in 1793, the South was able to maintain an economy based on the production of cotton. By the late 1850s, the South produced one-hundred percent of the 374 million pounds of cotton used in the United States. The rapid growth in cotton production was possible because of the availability of slaves.[6] In the northeast, slaves were used in agriculture until the early 19th century.[7] In the Midwest, slavery was prohibited by the Freedom Ordinance of 1787.

Development of agricultural output of the US in 2015 US$ since 1961

The introduction and broad adoption of scientific agriculture since the mid-19th century contributed to economic growth in the United States. This development was facilitated by the Morrill Act and the Hatch Act of 1887 which established in each state a land-grant university (with a mission to teach and study agriculture) and a federally funded system of agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension networks which place extension agents in each state.

Soybeans were not widely cultivated in the United States until the early 1930s, and by 1942 it became the world's largest soybean producer, due in part to World War II and the "need for domestic sources of fats, oils, and meal". Between 1930 and 1942, the United States' share of world soybean production grew from 3% to 47%, and by 1969 it had risen to 76%. By 1973 soybeans were the United States' "number one cash crop, and leading export commodity, ahead of both wheat and corn".[8] Although soybeans developed as the top cash crop, corn also remains as an important commodity. As the basis for "industrial food," corn is found in most modern day items at the grocery store. Aside from items like candy and soda, which contain high fructose corn-syrup, corn is also found in non-edible items like the shining wax on store advertisements.[9]

Significant areas of farmland were abandoned during the Great Depression and incorporated into nascent national forests. Later, "Sodbuster" and "Swampbuster" restrictions written into federal farm programs starting in the 1970s reversed a decades-long trend of habitat destruction that began in 1942 when farmers were encouraged to plant all possible land in support of the war effort. In the United States, federal programs administered through local Soil and Water Conservation Districts provide technical assistance and partial funding to farmers who wish to implement management practices to conserve soil and limit erosion and floods.[10]

Farmers in the early United States were open to planting new crops, raising new animals and adopting new innovations as increased agricultural productivity in turn increased the demand for shipping services, containers, credit, storage, and the like.[11]

Although four million farms disappeared in the United States between 1948 and 2015, total output from the farms that remained more than doubled. The number of farms with more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) almost doubled between 1987 and 2012, while the number of farms with 200 acres (81 ha) to 999 acres (404 ha) fell over the same period by 44%.[12]

Farm productivity increased in the United States from the mid-20th century until the late-20th century when productivity began to stall.[13]

From 1986 to 2018 about 30 million acres of cropland were abandoned.[14]

Production in 2018[edit]

Agricultural rankings
Crop Ranking Output

(000 tons)

Notes
maize 1 by far 392,000
soy 1 123,600 surpassed by Brazil in 2020[15]
wheat 4 51,200 behind China, India and Russia
sugar beet 3 30,000 behind Russia and France
sugar cane 10 31,300
potato 5 20,600 behind China, India, Russia and Ukraine
tomatoes 3 12,600 behind China and India
cotton 3 11,400 behind China and India
rice 12 10,100
sorghum 1 9,200
grape 3 6,800 behind China and Italy
orange 4 4,800 behind Brazil, China and India
apple 2 4,600 behind China
lettuce and chicory 2 3,600 behind China
barley 3,300
onion 3 3,200 behind China and India
peanut 3 2,400 behind China and India
almonds 1 1,800
beans 1,700
watermelon 1,700
rapeseed 1,600
carrots 3 1,500 behind China and Uzbekistan
strawberry 2 1,300 behind China
cauliflower and broccoli 3 1,200 behind China and India
sunflower seed 960
oats 10 814
lemon 8 812
tangerine 804
pear 3 730 behind China and Italy
green pea 3 722 behind China and India
peaches 6 700
walnut 2 613 behind China
pistachio 2 447 behind Iran
lentils 3 381 behind Canada and India
spinach 2 384 behind China
plum 4 368 behind China, Romania and Serbia
tobacco 4 241 behind China, Brazil and India

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 ||, etc.[16]

Major agricultural products[edit]

Satellite image of circular crop fields characteristic of center pivot irrigation in Kansas (June 2001).

Tonnes 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):[17]

Millions of Tonnes in 2003 2013
Corn 256.0 354.0
Cattle meat 12.0 11.7
Cow's milk, whole, fresh 77.0 91.0
Chicken meat 14.7 17.4
Soybeans 67.0 89.0
Pig meat 9.1 10.5
Wheat 64.0 58.0
Cotton lint 4.0 2.8
Hen eggs 5.2 5.6
Turkey meat 2.5 2.6
Tomatoes 11.4 12.6
Potatoes 20.8 19.8
Grapes 5.9 7.7
Oranges 10.4 7.6
Rice, paddy 9.1 8.6
Apples 3.9 4.1
Sorghum 10.4 9.9
Lettuce 4.7 3.6
Cottonseed 6.0 5.6
Sugar beets 30.7 29.8

Other crops appearing in the top 20 at some point in the last 40 years were: tobacco, barley, and 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.

Crops[edit]

See also: Corn Belt, Rice Belt, Cotton Belt, and Fruit Belt

Value of production[edit]

Rice paddy, California
Major Crops in the U.S. 1997
(in US$ billions) 		2014
(in US$ billions)
Corn $24.4 $52.3
Soybeans $17.7 $40.3
Wheat $8.6 $11.9
Alfalfa $8.3 $10.8
Cotton $6.1 $5.1
Hay, (non-Alfalfa) $5.1 $8.4
Tobacco $3.0 $1.8
Rice $1.7 $3.1
Sorghum $1.4 $1.7
Barley $0.9 $0.9
Source 1997 USDA – NASS reports,[18] 2015 USDA-NASS reports,[19]

Note alfalfa and hay are not tracked by the FAO and the production of tobacco in the United States has fallen 60% between 1997 and 2003.

Yield[edit]

Heavily mechanized, U.S. agriculture has a high yield relative to other countries. As of 2004:[20]

  • Corn for grain, average of 160.4 bushels harvested per acre (10.07 t/ha)
  • Soybean for beans, average of 42.5 bushels harvested per acre (2.86 t/ha)
  • Wheat, average of 43.2 bushels harvested per acre (2.91 t/ha, was 44.2 bu/ac or 2.97 t/ha in 2003)

Livestock[edit]

Density of cattle and calves by county in 2007.

The major livestock industries in the United States:

U.S. livestock and poultry inventory[21][22][23]
Type 1997 2002 2007 2012
Cattle and calves 99,907,017 95,497,994 96,347,858 89,994,614
Hogs and pigs 61,188,149 60,405,103 67,786,318 66,026,785
Sheep and lambs 8,083,457 6,341,799 5,819,162 5,364,844
Broilers
& other meat chickens 		1,214,446,356 1,389,279,047 1,602,574,592 1,506,276,846
Laying hens 314,144,304 334,435,155 349,772,558 350,715,978

Goats, horses, turkeys and bees are also raised, though in lesser quantities. Inventory data is not as readily available as for the major industries. For the three major goat-producing states—Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas—there were 1.2 million goats at the end of 2002. There were 5.3 million horses in the United States at the end of 1998. There were 2.5 million colonies of bees at the end of 2005.

Farm type or majority enterprise type[edit]

Farm type is based on which commodities are the majority crops grown on a farm. Nine common types include:[24][25][26]

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 his or her operation. For agricultural workers that sustain an injury, the resultant loss of work has implications on physical health and financial stability.[27]

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.[28]

Governance[edit]

Agriculture subsidy, from a Congressional Budget Office report. Note: chart does not show sugar subsidies.
Main articles: Agricultural policy in the United States and Agricultural subsidy

Agriculture in the United States is primarily governed by periodically renewed U.S. farm bills. Governance is both a federal and a local responsibility with the United States Department of Agriculture being the federal department responsible. Government aid includes research into crop types and regional suitability as well as many kinds of federal government subsidies, price supports and loan programs. U.S. farmers are not subject to production quotas and some laws are different for farms compared to other workplaces.[29][30]>[31]

Labor laws prohibiting children in other workplaces provide some exemptions for children working on farms with complete exemptions for children working on their family's farm.[32] Children can also gain permits from vocational training schools or 4-H clubs which allow them to do jobs they would otherwise not be permitted to do.

A large part of the U.S. farm workforce is made up of migrant and seasonal workers, many of them recent immigrants from Latin America. Additional laws apply to these workers and their housing which is often provided by the farmer.

Farm labor[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Farmworkers in the United States.[edit]
Farmworkers in Fort Valley, Georgia in 2019

Farmworkers in the United States have unique demographics, wages, working conditions, organizing, and environmental aspects. According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health in Agricultural Safety, approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019 and approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the US.[33] A study by the USDA found the average age of a farmworker to be 33. In 2017, the Department of Labor and Statistics found the median wage to be $23,730 a year, or $11.42 per hour.

The types of farmworkers include field crop workers, nursery workers, greenhouse workers, supervisors, etc.[34] The United States Department of Labor findings for the years 2019-2020 report that 63 percent of crop workers were born in Mexico, 30 percent in the mainland United States or Puerto Rico, 5 percent in Central America, and 2 percent in other regions.[35] The amount of farm labor in the United States has changed substantially: in 1870, almost 50 percent of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture;[36] As of 2008, less than 2 percent of the population is directly employed in agriculture.[37][38]

Potential health and safety issues that may be associated with farm work include vehicle rollovers, falls, musculoskeletal injuries, hazardous equipment, grain bins, pesticides, unsanitary conditions, and respiratory disease. According to the United States Department Of Labor, farmworkers are at risk of work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, and certain cancers related to chemical use.[39] Farm workers also suffer disproportionately from heat stress, with fewer than average seeking treatment. While some progress has been made, many farm workers continue to struggle for fair pay, proper training, and safe working conditions.
A group of men, all wearing similarly styled overalls and wide-brimmed hats, are bent over, kneeling, and standing in a field. It appears as though most also wield a hammer-like tool.
A group of men in San Miguel County, New Mexico performing manual labor.

Occupational safety and health[edit]

Main article: Agricultural safety and health

Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries due to the use of chemicals and risk of injury.[40][41] Farmers are at high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries (general traumatic injury and musculoskeletal injury), work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, chemical-related illnesses, and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure.[41][42][43] In an average year, 516 workers die doing farm work in the U.S. (1992–2005). Every day, about 243 agricultural workers suffer lost-work-time injuries, and about 5% of these result in permanent impairment.[44] Tractor overturns are the leading cause of agriculture-related fatal injuries, and account for over 90 deaths every year. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends the use of roll over protection structures on tractors to reduce the risk of overturn-related fatal injuries.[44]

A black and white image shows approximately 20 tents or trailers lined up in a field next to pea field that is being harvested. The largest tent is in the very back and is an emergency community school for migrant children. The pea fields and some mountains take up the rest of the background.
Pea harvesting season in San Joaquin, California calls for temporary labor camps to be set up for workers to live in close proximity to their work.
This is in Manito Park in Spokane, WA. It is a red-and-white caution sign warning of pesticide usage. "Caution: Pesticide Spraying. Enter at your own risk" is written.
Caution sign warning of pesticide usage, located in Manito Park in Spokane, WA.

Farming is one of the few industries in which families (who often share the work and live on the premises) are also at risk for injuries, illness, and death. Agriculture is the most dangerous industry for young workers, accounting for 42% of all work-related fatalities of young workers in the U.S. between 1992 and 2000. In 2011, 108 youth, less than 20 years of age, died from farm-related injuries.[45] Unlike other industries, half the young victims in agriculture were under age 15.[46] For young agricultural workers aged 15–17, the risk of fatal injury is four times the risk for young workers in other workplaces[47] Agricultural work exposes young workers to safety hazards such as machinery, confined spaces, work at elevations, and work around livestock. The most common causes of fatal farm-related youth injuries involve machinery, motor vehicles, or drowning. Together these three causes comprise more than half of all fatal injuries to youth on U.S. farms.[48] Women in agriculture (including the related industries of forestry and fishing) numbered 556,000 in 2011.[41] Agriculture in the U.S. makes up approximately 75% of the country's pesticide use. Agricultural workers are at high risk for being exposed to dangerous levels of pesticides, whether or not they are directly working with the chemicals.[43] For example, with issues like pesticide drift, farmworkers are not the only ones exposed to these chemicals; nearby residents come into contact with the pesticides as well.[49] The frequent exposure to these pesticides can have detrimental effects on humans, resulting in adverse health reactions associated with pesticide poisoning.[50][51] Migrant workers, especially women, are at higher risk for health issues associated with pesticide exposure due to lack of training or appropriate safety precautions.[52][53] United States agricultural workers experience 10,000 cases or more of physician-diagnosed pesticide poisoning annually.[54]

Research centers[edit]

Some U.S. research centers are focused on the topic of health and safety in agricultural practices. These centers not only conduct research on the subject of occupational disease and injury prevention, but also promote agricultural health and safety through educational outreach programs. Most of these groups are funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the US Department of Agriculture, or other state agencies.[55] Centers include:

Farmer suicide[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Farmers' suicides in the United States.[edit]
Farmland in Hull, Iowa, one of the states experiencing high levels of suicide among farmers

Farmers' suicides in the United States refers to the instances of American farmers taking their own lives, largely since the 1980s, partly due to their falling into debt, but as a larger mental-health crisis among U.S. agriculture workers. In the Midwest alone, over 1,500 farmers have taken their own lives since the 1980s. It mirrors a crisis happening globally: in Australia, a farmer dies by suicide every four days; in the United Kingdom, one farmer a week takes their own life, in France it is one every two days. More than 270,000 farmers have died by suicide since 1995 in India.[66][67]

Farmers are among the most likely to die by suicide, in comparison to other occupations, according to a study published in January 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).[68] Researchers at the University of Iowa found that farmers, and others in the agricultural trade, had the highest suicide rate of all occupations from 1992 to 2010, the years covered in a 2017 study.[68] The rate was 3.5 times that of the general population.[68] This echoed a study conducted the previous year by the CDC[69] and another undertaken by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).[70]

Most family farmers seem to agree on what led to their plight: government policy. In the years after the New Deal, they say, the United States set a price floor for farmers, essentially ensuring they received a minimum wage for the crops they produced. But the government began rolling back this policy in the 1970s, and now the global market largely determines the price they get for their crops. Big farms can make do with lower prices for crops by increasing their scale; a few cents per gallon of cow's milk adds up if you have thousands of cows.

—Time, November 27, 2019

As of April 2023, the suicide rate within the farming community exceeds that of the general population by three and a half times.[70]

Environmental issues[edit]

Climate change[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Climate change and agriculture in the United States.[edit]

Climate change and agriculture are complexly related processes. In the United States, agriculture is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), behind the energy sector.[71] Direct GHG emissions from the agricultural sector account for 8.4% of total U.S. emissions, but the loss of soil organic carbon through soil erosion indirectly contributes to emissions as well.[72] While agriculture plays a role in propelling climate change, it is also affected by the direct (increase in temperature, change in rainfall, flooding, drought) and secondary (weed, pest, disease pressure, infrastructure damage) consequences of climate change.[71][73] USDA research indicates that these climatic changes will lead to a decline in yield and nutrient density in key crops, as well as decreased livestock productivity.[74][75] Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to U.S. agriculture due to the sensitivity of agricultural productivity and costs to changing climate conditions.[76] Rural communities dependent on agriculture are particularly vulnerable to climate change threats.[73]

The US Global Change Research Program (2017) identified four key areas of concern in the agriculture sector: reduced productivity, degradation of resources, health challenges for people and livestock, and the adaptive capacity of agriculture communities.[73]

Large-scale adaptation and mitigation of these threats relies on changes in farming policy.[72][77]

Demographics[edit]

The number of women working in agriculture has risen and the 2002 census of agriculture recorded a 40% increase in the number of female farm workers.[78] Inequality and respect are common issues for these workers, as many have reported that they are not being respected, listened to, or taken seriously due to traditional views of women as housewives and caretakers.[79]

Women may also face resistance when attempting to advance to higher positions. Other issues reported by female farm workers include receiving less pay than their male counterparts and a refusal or reluctance by their employers to offer their female workers the same additional benefits given to male workers such as housing.[80]

As of 2012, there were 44,629 African-American farmers in the United States. The vast majority of African-American farmers were in southern states.[81]

Industry[edit]

Historically, farmland has been owned by small property owners, but as of 2017 institutional investors, including foreign corporations, had been purchasing farmland.[82] In 2013 the largest producer of pork, Smithfield Foods, was bought by a company from China.[82]

As of 2017, only about 4% of farms have sales over $1m, but these farms yield two-thirds of total output.[83] Some of these are large farms have grown organically from private family-owned businesses.[83]

Land ownership laws[edit]

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.[84][85]

The state with the most foreign ownership as of 2019 is Maine, which has 3.1 million acres that are foreign-controlled, followed closely by Texas at 3 million acres. Alabama, at 1.6 million acres, Washington, at 1.5 million acres, and Michigan, at 1.3 million acres, round out the top five, according to the Midwest Center's analysis.[84]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

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Cited sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Cochrane, Willard. The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis (1998)
  • Conkin, Paul. A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture since 1929 (2008)
  • Gardner, Bruce L. (2002). American Agriculture in the Twentieth Century: How It Flourished and What It Cost. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00748-4.
  • Hurt, R. Douglas. A Companion to American Agricultural History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022)
  • Lauck, Jon. American agriculture and the problem of monopoly: the political economy of grain belt farming, 1953-1980 (U of Nebraska Press, 2000).
  • Riney-Kehrberg, Pamela. ed. The Routledge History of Rural America (2018)
  • Schapsmeier, Edward L; and Frederick H. Schapsmeier. Encyclopedia of American agricultural history (1975) online
  • Schmidt, Louis Bernard, and Earle Dudley Ross, eds. Readings in the economic history of American agriculture (Macmillan, 1925) excerpts from scholarly studies, colonial era to 1920s. online.
  • Spitze, Robert G. F.; Harold G. Halcrow; Joyce E. Allen-Smith (1994). Food and Agricultural Policy. Mcgraw-Hill College. ISBN 0-07-025800-7.
  • Winterbottom, Jo; Huffstutter, P. J. (Feb. 2015). Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy,   Reuters

External links[edit]

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