Agricultural Statistics

Note that this page is ongoing and I am constantly adding to it and updating it.

AGRICULTURE:

• Only 1% of the U.S. population is directly involved in farming.
• Goods producing jobs as a percentage of all jobs have declined from 31.2% in 1970 to 13.8% today.
  
• The U.S. is the largest soybean grower.
  
• Corn is the largest U.S. crop, valued at $48.6 billion in 2009, followed by soybeans at $31.8 billion, government data show. Wheat was the fourth-biggest at $10.6 billion, behind hay.
• 29% of US corn was exported 20 years ago and today it is only 15%. (2010)
• In the U.S., 95% of eggs come from facilities with 75,000 birds or more. Five states produce half of the nation's eggs - Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California.
• In the USDA's 2010 fiscal year $126 billion dollar budget: 65% was for food/nutrition programs; 19% for farm commodity programs/foreign agriculture assistance; and 8% for conservation.
• Over one-third of major US cropland is no-tilled, with 23.5% corn acres and 45.3% soybean acres in no-till. (2010)
• Input costs in Colorado in 2010 were approximately $650/acre for corn; $725/acre for popcorn; $275/acre for wheat; $1,400-1,700/acre for tomatoes, watermelon and cantaloupe.
• The CRB foodstuffs sub index dates back to 1981 and includes butter, cocoa, corn, hogs, lard, soybean oil, steers, sugar and wheat.
• Russia and the former Soviet Union account for around 15% of world wheat exports.
• 33% of the world's grain production is fed to animals according to One World.
• The world's population has tripled in size since the 1930s.
• A weaker dollar makes ag commodities cheaper for importers, pushing up demand. A fall in the dollar tends to raise the price of grain in dollars — but it also tends to reduce the price of grain in euros, for example.
• Pakistan is the world's third largest rice exporter.
• World's largest wheat exporters: U.S., EU, Russian Federation, Canada, Australia, Kazakhastan, Australia, Argentina.
• World's largest wheat importers: Egypt, Asia, Africa, So. America, Central Europe, Europe.
• World's largest rice exporters: (Other), Thailand, Viet Nam, Pakistan, U.S., India.
• $40 billion is spent annually on global agricultural research.
• In September 2010, Indonesians and Philippines spend as much as half of their household budgets on food; in China and India over one-third.
• Iowa farmland: 74 percent of Iowa farmland is paid for, and 54 percent of Iowa's farmland is rented or farmed by non-owners.
• Africa: Since the 2008 food crisis external governments have acquired a total of 2,492,684ha of land in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ghana, Madagascar and Mali.
• Grocery store prices (in the U.S.) increased 0.7% from July 2009 to July 2010. However these price increases are well below the 1997-2006 average annual food and beverage retail price increase of 2.5%. Restaurant prices increased 1.1% from July 2009 to July 2010, well below the typical 3% increase which means restaurants are passing along lower food costs to consumers.
• More than 57 percent of nitrogen and 86 percent of potash used in the U.S. is imported (2008 data), and the U.S. is a major phosphorus exporter. The costs to produce and transport fertilizers are highly dependent on energy costs, so fertilizer costs are directly related to energy costs.
• Total costs for 2011 are expected to be near $4.00 a bushel for corn; $9.50 for soybeans; and $6.00 for wheat. These estimated costs include all the variable costs to produce the crop as well as machinery depreciation, cash rent, and family living expenses.
• Globally, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that a full third of all fruit and vegetables never reach the consumer at all because they perish in fields, in storage, or en route.
• The U.S.'s top cattle feeding states are: Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Iowa
• Top pork producing state: Iowa
• For livestock, about 16 per cent of the nearly 4000 breeds recorded in the twentieth century had become extinct by 2000, and a fifth of reported breeds are now classified as at risk.
• Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of coffee and sugar, the second-largest soybean producer and the third-largest exporter of corn.
  
• Argentina is the second-largest corn shipper and the third-largest grower of soybeans.

ENERGY:

• Railroads can move one ton more than 480 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel.
• According to David Murphy, the average EROI for corn ethanol is 1.07 with a standard error of 0.1.
• Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of ethanol, with 40 plants that produce more than one-quarter of the 12 billion gallons of ethanol that are blended with unleaded gasoline.
• One bushel of the grain distills into about 2.75 gallons of ethanol.
• Wind energy is currently is producing more than 76,000 GWh of electricity onto the US grid. (2010)
• Hydropower provides 16% of electricity globally, but only 7% in the U.S.
• Fertilizer accounts for 20 percent of U.S. farm energy use.
• In the U.S., close to 19 percent of farm energy use is for pumping water.
• Agriculture accounts for only 20% of the energy used in the U.S. food system.
• 86% of American's commute alone in their cars. 9/2010
• 43% of U.S. oil consumption is from driving.
• 139 million cars in the U.S. 9/2010
• 103 million bikes in the U.S. 9/2010
• One-third of the oil the U.S. produces comes from the Gulf of Mexico.