Today is National Agriculture Day! While I believe agriculture should be celebrated every day, it is nice to have one specific day set aside for the world to know how hard we work. In order to celebrate, I have chosen 5 ag facts to elaborate on.
- Today’s farmers produce 262% more food with 2% less inputs when compared with 1950. This is going to be increasingly important moving forward. In 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach upwards of 9.5 BILLION. That’s up from the current 7.5 billion we have right now. So, how are we going to feed those extra 2 billion mouths? Science and new technology. This is why all-natural techniques simply won’t work to feed the world. Through the use of genetically modified organisms and enhanced technology, we CAN feed the world quite efficiently with the amount of land and inputs we are able to utilize.
- You may think “well, farmers must be rich. People eat 3+ times a day, 365 days a year.” Wrong. Farmers and ranchers only get $0.16 for every dollar spent on food both at home and away from home. The remaining $0.84 goes to costs once the product leaves the farm; transportation, marketing, distribution, etc. Furthermore, what a farmer/rancher produces depends a lot on the weather. If a farmer’s entire crop gets flooded out or a rancher loses half their herd to a natural disaster, they are essentially S.O.L.
- We are fortunate as Americans to have the most abundant, safe, and affordable food supply. This has a lot to do with how efficient our farm and ranch families are. As you read in #1, we are producing over 2.5x more with 2% less, and that is amazing. Thank you, science, for the ability to do so much with so little.
- 98% of US farms are family operated. So, you can stop with the whole “factory farming” fear mongering technique. Corporate farms usually outsource their production to family farms, so our food is being raised by people just like you and me. Additionally, only 2% of Americans are farmers or ranchers. 2 percent.
- Because of our high production rate, the US exports more agricultural products around the world than it imports. This creates a positive trade balance for agriculture. Agriculture products include both food and fiber. How does only 2% of our population produce so many products that we can export so much and still keep our imports to a minimum?!
“In no other country do so few people produce so much food, to feed so many, at such reasonable prices” – President Dwight D. Eisenhower
So go out and thank your local farmer today. It doesn’t matter if you eat organic or conventional, someone devotes their life to making yours possible. Remember that the next time you sit down for a meal. Happy National Agriculture Day!
These facts came from the American Farm Bureau Federation and American Agri-Women.
Rachel Waggie 