Agricultural data of interest in the United States

Each country certainly has particular characteristics that makes it unique, with the possibility to standout in comparison to other regions, especially due to the way in which they decide to take advantage of their resources. The United States is no exception, and thanks to the advantage of having natural resources and excellent land conditions, the country has had a privileged place for several decades as one of the main agricultural nations of the world in terms of production and supplying. Below are some statistics of agriculture in the United States.

According to data from the webpage Statista, during the years from 1998 to 2016, the U.S. agricultural industry has employed 925,000 people around the country. Also, it counted an approximate number of farms resulting in about 2,048,000 from the years 2000 to 2017, so it isn’t surprising that this nation has so many farms of different dimensions and each one of them is destined to cover a specific area.

For example, in 2017 and according to Statista, farms had an average extension of 444 acres in this country. Taking this figure as a reference and knowing that for 2017 there were almost 910 million acres of agricultural lands nationwide, out of which more than one third were operated by sole homeowners, the importance of agriculture in the United States is evident. In total, the real estate value of agricultural lands in the United States reached around $2.7 trillion.

Exports resulting from agricultural products always represent a point of profit for the countries that decide to participate in the game, because this means that the production work is done in an optimal way, thus offering positive results. In this field, the United States is one of the leading characters and one of the fundamental pillars in the global trade within the agricultural world.

Statistics about U.S. exports and imports

Statista indicates that by the year 2015 “exports of agricultural products were worth some 133 billion U.S. dollars. The most important countries of destination were China, Canada, and Mexico. Conversely, imports worth around 113.5 billion U.S. dollars made their way into the United States that year. The principal countries/regions of origin were Canada, the European Union, and Mexico”.

While agriculture represents profits, it also implies high production costs since farmers must make significant capital investments in order to acquire raw materials and quality work tools that allow them to make the most of the benefits of agricultural lands, livestock and poultry farming.

Another fact that stands out in the statistics of agriculture in the United States is the genetic engineering that is becoming more frequent as part of the new agricultural practices that this American nation is implementing.

According to information provided by Statista, it is remarkable that the United States owns the largest surface of genetically modified crops worldwide. “Some crops have a very high proportion of transgenic crops per species. For example, in 2016, almost 94 percent of all soybeans planted in the United States were genetically modified to be herbicide-tolerant.”

Other interesting post to read: how agriculture has evolved to reduce pesticide use and expenses.