Oil Seed Crops
Oil Seed Crops 5 Major Soybeans Peanuts Safflower Flax Sunflower
Soybeans Grown in the Corn Belt Internationally grown in Brazil Oil and grains are the major uses Oil Many Products Grain. Important PROTEIN source for animal feed.
Peanuts Peanut is a legume (in the pea family, not a nut.) Grown in the South (needs warm temp.) George Washington Carver found 300 uses for peanuts.
Safflower
Flax Flax fiber from the stems of plants are used to make linen. The oil from flax is called LINSEED Oil Oil is important in paints and hundreds of uses.
Sunflowers Sunflower Meal: livestock feed. Sunflower Oil Margarine and cooking oil Diesel fuel in tractors
Specialty Crops Cotton Sugar beets Sugar Cane Tobacco
Cotton Important southern crop (needs warm temperatures) We export millions of bales to other countries “Ginning” is the process of removing the seed, which contains the oil The seed is then ground up for livestock feed.
Sugar Beets 35% of refined sugar in U.S. comes from sugar beets
Sugar Cane 65% of refined sugar Grown in subtropical climates, Hawaii, Florida, Gulf States
Tobacco Originally Native American religious rites Produced in the southeast Has declined in the U.S. because of known health hazards, but has increased worldwide.