TIFFANY CICHON ROSHOLT AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Size and Importance of Agriculture

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? 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

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 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

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 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