Download Size and Importance of Agriculture

Size and Importance of
Agriculture
TIFFANY CICHON
ROSHOLT AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
Without Production Agriculture…
There would be no land!
What does it all start with?
Land
Production Agriculture would not
be possible without plants and
plants are impossible to grow
without land
Land
 How much land is available in this area?
 How much is being used?
Crops
 In the US 2.3 billion acres
 21% is used on crops
 25% is used for livestock
 30% is used for forest products
 24% is used for non agricultural products
Livestock
Forest
Non ag
products
Are We Running Out of Land?
• Some people contend that because of increase in non
agricultural uses of land, we are running out of good
farmland.
• The Facts do not support this conclusion.
• Even though the number of acres is increasing- the
productivity of land in increasing faster than the
acres are decreasing.
What is the #1 place farmers sell their
land/farms too?
To other farmers
What do Economists predict?
 That the trend toward fewer farms will continue, but
the decrease will occur in small- and medium- sized
farms.
 Larger farms are expected to increase in number and
volume of sales.
Farms Today
 176,990 farms contain 1,000 acres or more
 161,550 farms contain 500-1,000 acres
 1,611,090 farms contain 10-500 acres
 179,350 farms contain less than 10 acres
Products
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)= the yardstick
that measures the value or goods and services that
America produces in a years
Agriculture accounts for 17% of the GDP and 20% of
jobs in the US
America’s Share of World Food Productions
Efficiency of Production Agriculture
 Today’s farmer produces enough to feed more than
150 people
 90% of the food in the US is made by the American
farmer
 Per capita has increased 47% from 1970-1997
Why is Efficiency so Important
 Efficiency of production agriculture releases
manpower for other work and for increasing
industrialization.
 Greater industrialization leads to a healthier
economy
Events Shaping the Global Ag Market
• European Community of its Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP)
–
–
Changed the EC from a 20 million ton/year importer
To 20 million ton/year exporter
• Collapse of many of the Socialist economists
– At 1 time the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People’s Republic of
China were importing 40-50 million tons of grain annually and
now are exporters
• Other countries taking over 80 million tons of grain
imports
Public Agriservices
Provides special services at the federal, state, and local
levels.
The major areas of emphasis include
• Research
• Education
• Communication
• Ag regulation
USDA along has more than 100,000 employees
Private Agriservices
 Production agriculture pays more than $1 billion
yearly on private services
 Include





Vet
Feed grinding and mixing
Machine harvesting
Contract labor
Spraying
Agribusiness
It is amazing how many stores are Agribusiness.
Circle or Underline the ones that YOU give business
too and we will total it up and give the results for
Monday.
Financial Services
 Considered a Private service
 Lends money to all three servers of the agricultural
industry



Input
Output
Production
 It is almost impossible to run a business without
financial service



Land
Livestock
Equipment
Trade Associations
 Where is our local trade association?
 Every agribusiness association and production
agriculture has a trade association.
 Trade is more efficiently carried out in groups
compared to individuals.
Trade Associations
 Help with or give
 Public Relations
 Promotion
 Publicity
 Communications
 Sales Training
 Auditing
 Recordkeeping
Agricultural Cooperatives
 Provide services essential to the agriculture industry
 25% of all agricultural products are marketed by
cooperatives
 What are some cooperatives around here?
Foreign Trade Categories
 6 Categories of Foreign Trade
 Feed grains and feed grain products
 Soybeans and Soybean products
 Wheat and wheat products
 Live animals
 Meat and meat products
 Vegetables
Exports and Imports
 Imports: Buying goods from other countries
 Exports: Selling goods from other countries
 All Agricultural exports reach $50 billion
 The United States is a major importer
 In 10 years imports have increased in agriculture
from $4.45 billion to $10.5 billion (136% increase)
Agribusiness and Energy
 Agriculture is both a producer and user of energy
 As a whole uses 10-20% of the world’s energy.
 1/3 of the energy is used by production
agriculturalist
 2/3 of the energy is used by other agribusiness
Renewable Agricultural Products
 Agriculture is becoming a larger producer of energy.
 Types:
 Direct burning
 Ethanol production
 Biodiesel
 Methane gas production
Direct Burning
 Wood burning stoves
Ethanol Production
 Sugars and/or high-strach grains
 E-85
Biodiesel
 Most used renewable agricultural alternative energy
source
 Soy diesel
Methane Gas Production
 Methane- natural gas
 2/3 of biogas
Agribusiness & The Environment
 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962
 Why?
 EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
 Natural Resource Conservation Service