1. Farming it’s a Fact Food, Land & People Agriculture in the Classroom
Utah State University

2. What is Agriculture?
Farms
Food
Fabric
Forestry
Flowers

3. How Are You Connected to agriculture?
Personal Care Products Shampoo, soap, cosmetics, lotions, fingernail polish, toothpaste
Construction Lumber, paints, brushes, tar paper, drywall, tool handles, particle board
Health Care Pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, ointments, latex gloves, x-ray film
Manufacturing Adhesives, lubricants, solvents, detergents, polymers
Entertainment Film, strings for musical instruments
Transportation Biofuels including ethanol and biodiesel, lubricants, antifreeze, tires, upholstery, packing materials
Products we use in our everyday lives come from plants and animals produced by America’s farmers and ranchers.
Source: USDA - Agricultural Outlook
Education Crayons, text books, chalk, desks, pencils, paper
Printing Paper, ink, film
Sports Uniforms, baseball bats, leather equipment and balls, shoes
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

4. Farms: Things we grow and raise. Like dairy cows
Farms: Things we grow and raise. Like dairy cows. What a Dairy Cow consume and produces in a day?
3.3 pounds of butter OR
8.1 gallons of milk OR
7.0 pounds of cheese
35 gallons of water
35 pounds of hay or silage
VALUE of a cow’s daily production = $ COST
Feed = $4.50
Supplies = $3.00
Bldgs./overhead = $3.75
______________________
Daily Costs = $11.25
RETURN on Labor = $0.30
A typical cow weighs 1,500 pounds and produces 70 pounds of milk per day. A cow converts roughage and grains not consumed by people into high-energy foods.
Source: Hoard’s Dairyman
20 pounds of grain and concentrated feed
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

5. An Acre is About the Size of a Football Field
What is a billion???
If you had 1 million dollars and had to spend $1,000 dollars every day, your money would run out in 1000 days. If you had 1 billion dollars and had to spend $1,000 every day, your money would run out for 2,740 years.
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

6. What Does One Acre of Land Produce?
810 pounds of Cotton
2,694 pounds of Wheat
11,500 pounds of Sweet Corn
39,500 pounds of Potatoes
31,000 pounds of Oranges
35,600 pounds of Lettuce
46,500 pounds of Strawberries
Sources: North Dakota Wheat Commission; National Cotton Council of America; California Strawberry Commission; USDA – NASS
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

7. Food: What’s in the Grocery Store and Restaurants: Pizza for example
Your favorite pizza originates on America’s farms and ranches
Top-Producing States:
Mozzarella Cheese (Dairy Products)
California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
Tomato Sauce (Fresh Tomatoes)
California, Florida, Virginia
Pizza Dough (Winter Wheat)
Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota
Sausage (From Hogs)
Iowa, North Carolina, Minnesota
Spinach
California, Arizona
Mushrooms
Pennsylvania, California
Onions
Georgia, California, Texas
Green Peppers
California, Florida
Pineapple
Hawaii
Your favorite pizza originates on America’s farms and ranches.
Each year, Americans consume nearly 3 billion pizzas. If you look at it another way, that means each person eats about 23 pounds of pizza every year. In fact, 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second!
Sources: USDA – ERS; USDA – NASS; Pizzaware.com
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

8. What’s on America’s Dinner Table?
Flour & Cereal Products
196.9 pounds
Fresh Fruits
126.2 pounds
Milk
21 gallons
Eggs
245 eggs
Red Meats
116.9 pounds
Annual per capita consumption of major foods.
Source: ERS Food Consumption Database, February 2009
Fats & Oils pounds
Cheese
32.7 pounds
Fresh Vegetables
202.2 pounds
Poultry
85.4 pounds
Rice
20.5 pounds
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

9. Number of people fed annually by one farmer19 27 46 73
115
129
America’s farmers are the world’s most productive. Today, each U.S. farmer produces food and fiber for 155 people in the United States and abroad.
Source: AFBF
139
143
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

10. State that produces the most food and has the highest farm-gate sales
Rank
State
$ in Thousands 1
California
$36,574,850 2
Texas
$19,074,827 3
Iowa
$19,036,853 4
Nebraska
$14,555,820 5
Minnesota
$12,538,429 6
Kansas
$11,729,328 7
Illinois
$11,678,609 8
Wisconsin
$8,858,242 9
North Carolina
$8,691,099 10
Indiana
$7,775,742
These seven states produce about two-thirds of the annual U.S. nursery crop. All the other states combined produce one-third of the annual U.S. nursery crop.
Did you know?
Eighty-five million American households spend $39.6 billion at lawn and garden retail outlets annually. U.S. consumers spend $37.9 billion annually on professional landscape, lawn and tree care services.
Source: American Nursery & Landscape Association; USDA – ERS
USDA – ERS: 2009
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

11. How Many Farms and Farmers?
• In 1935, the number of farms in the United States peaked at 6.8 million. Today, there are 2.2 million farms dotting America’s rural landscape. Texas had the most farms (247,500) in 2008, followed by Missouri (108,000), Iowa (92,600), Oklahoma (86,600) and Kentucky (85,300).
• Total land in farms was estimated at million acres in 2008, compared to 1.04 billion acres in Since 1987, the average size of U.S. farms has hovered around 455 acres.
• A total of 373,500 farms had sales of $100,000 or more in Those operations accounted for only 17 percent of all farms, but 89 percent of total sales.
• Agriculture and related industries (producing, processing, selling and trading the nation’s food and fiber) employ more than 21 million Americans – 15 percent of the total U.S. workforce.
Sources: Census of Agriculture (2007); ERS – ARMS Survey; USDA – NASS
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

12. Where Does Your Food Dollar Go?
3.5¢ Depreciation
4¢ Rent
2.5¢ Interest
1.5¢ Repairs
3.5¢ Business Taxes
3.5¢ Other Costs
4¢ Advertising
4.5¢ Profits
3.5¢ Energy
4¢ Transportation
8¢ Packaging
38.5¢ Off Farm Labor
OFF-FARM costs (marketing expenses associated with processing, wholesaling, distributing and retailing of food products) account for 81 cents of every retail dollar spent on food.
FARMERS and RANCHERS receive only 19 cents out of every retail dollar spent on food that is eaten at home and away from home. In 1980, farmers received 31 cents out of every retail dollar spent on food in America.
OTHER COSTS include property taxes and insurance; accounting and professional services; promotion; bad debts; and many miscellaneous items.
Source: USDA – ERS (2006)
19¢ FARM
81¢ OFF-FARM
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

13. What Do We Trade on the World Market?
Source: USDA - ERS/Agricultural Outlook Tables (2008)
Top Exports (billions)
U.S. Ag Exports = $115 billion
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

14. Fish farming: Aquaculture
Top Five Aquaculture States in Sales
Mississippi
Arkansas
Alabama
Louisiana
Florida
Aquaculture is an important part of U.S. agriculture. The top five states for aquaculture sales are: Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida.
There are 4,028 aquaculture farms in the U.S. Louisiana has the most (873), followed by Mississippi (403), Florida (359), Alabama (215) and Arkansas (211).
Sources: Census of Aquaculture (2005); American Forestry & Paper Association; U.S. Forest Service
U.S. aquaculture products
Food Fish
Mollusks
Miscellaneous Fish
Crustaceans
Ornamental Fish
Bait Fish
Sport Fish
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

15. Fabric or Fiber: Agriculture provides natural fibers to make cloth
Vegetable Fibers
Seed fiber (cotton, kapok, milkweed)
Stalk/Stem (bamboo, flax/linen, ramie, hemp, jute, rattan)
Animal Fibers
Wool (sheep)
Mohair (angora goat)
Cashmere (goats)
Angora (rabbit)
Alpaca (alpaca, resembles small llama)
Feathers (chickens)
Fur (mink, fox)
Leather (pigs, cattle, sheep, etc
Silk (caterpillars)
Catgut (animal intestines, all kinds of animals except cats)
Silviculture is a branch of forestry dealing with the management and cultivation of forest trees. The amount of U.S. forestland has increased by 12 million acres in the last 20 years. About one-third of the U.S. – or 750 million acres – is covered with trees.
The U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of forestland … 145 million acres or 75 percent of this natural resource is set aside for non-commercial uses including wildlife habitat and recreational activities.
Sources: Census of Aquaculture (2005); American Forestry & Paper Association; U.S. Forest Service
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

16. Forestry or Silviculture? Who Owns America’s Forests
Forest products industry 11 percent
750 million acres of the U.S. is covered by trees (about 1/3 of the U.S.)
The National Forest Service manages 193 million acres of forested land.
145 million acres or 75 percent is set aside for non-commercial use:
Wildlife habitat
Recreational activities
Federal, state and local governments 37 percent
Private citizens 52 percent
Silviculture is a branch of forestry dealing with the management and cultivation of forest trees. The amount of U.S. forestland has increased by 12 million acres in the last 20 years. About one-third of the U.S. – or 750 million acres – is covered with trees.
The U.S. Forest Service manages 193 million acres of forestland … 145 million acres or 75 percent of this natural resource is set aside for non-commercial uses including wildlife habitat and recreational activities.
Sources: Census of Aquaculture (2005); American Forestry & Paper Association; U.S. Forest Service
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

17. Flowers: Horticulture: Top Producing States.
The nursery and greenhouse industry is made up of thousands of small family businesses that grow, retail, install and care for plants and landscapes. Grower cash receipts from nursery and greenhouse sales to retail and distribution businesses grew to $17.2 billion in 2007, up from $15.4 billion four years prior.
Source: American Nursery & Landscape Association; USDA – ERS
Typical Greenhouse Crops
Typical Nursery Crops
Floral, foliage and vegetable plants including tomatoes
Transplant seedlings and bulbs
Aquatic plants
Mushrooms, herbs and seeds
Cut and live Christmas trees
Ornamental plants and trees with woody stems
Fruit and nut plants for outdoor/ landscape use
Ornamental vines
Turfgrass sod and other groundcovers
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic

18. Fuels from Agriculture
Renewable bio-based fuels
America’s farm fields don’t just produce fuel for our bodies. Crops such as corn and soybeans are used to produce fuel for our vehicles. Renewable fuels contribute to a cleaner environment, reduce pollution and reliance on foreign oil and contribute to the stability of the rural farm economy by creating another commercial market for crops.
More than 800 filling stations make biodiesel available to the public and 1,700 petroleum distributors carry it nationwide. About 90 percent of U.S. biodiesel is produced from soybean oil. In 2008, 16 percent of soybean oil produced in the U.S. was used for biodiesel production.
With a record production of 10 billion gallons of ethanol in 2008, about 3 billion bushels of corn were used to produce fuel for our vehicles. One in every four rows of corn went into ethanol production in Cellulosic ethanol derived from grasses and agricultural waste, rather than corn, also offers great potential as a renewable energy source. Corn/starch-related ethanol production is projected to reach 15 billion gallons in the future.
Sources: AFBF; Renewable Fuels Association; National Biodiesel Board; National Corn Growers
Biodiesel
Ethanol
American Farm Bureau Federation® graphic