This article is part ofa series on the
Economy of the United States
History Agricultural Banking Dollar Lumber Petroleum Tariff Technological and industrial
Sectors Primary sector Agriculture Energy Petroleum Electricity Mining Fishing Forestry Water and sanitation Secondary sector Automotive Iron and steel Pulp and paper Tertiary sector Social programs Transportation Tourism Education Gambling Healthcare Insurance Financial services Central bank Banking Largest banks Largest companies
Economy by state California Texas New York Florida more... State statistics State budgets State credit ratings State unemployment rate Union membership
Economy by city or county Allentown Atlanta Buffalo Chicago Cleveland Columbus Detroit Door County Erie Houston Indianapolis Kansas City Lexington Long Island Louisville Memphis New York City Norfolk Omaha Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Salt Lake City San Diego Spokane St. Louis Stamford Youngstown Washington, D.C.
Labor force Labor Law Child labor Labor unions Minimum wage Right-to-work law Employment Unemployment Causes
Economy portal United States portal
v t e

Agriculture is a major industry in theUnited States, which is a net exporter of food.^[1] As of the 2017census of agriculture, there were 2.04 million farms, covering an area of 900 million acres (1,400,000 sq mi), an average of 441 acres (178 hectares) per farm.^[2]

Agriculture in theUnited States is highly mechanized, with an average of only one farmer or farm laborer required per square kilometer of farmland for agricultural production.

Even though agricultural activity occurs in everyU.S. state, it is particularly concentrated in theCentral Valley of California and in theGreat Plains, a vast expanse of flat arable land in the center of the nation, in the region west of theGreat Lakes and east of theRocky Mountains. The eastern wetter half is a major corn and soybean-producing region known as theCorn Belt, and the western drier half is known as theWheat Belt because of its high rate of wheat production.^[3] TheCentral Valley of California producesfruits,vegetables, andnuts. TheAmerican South has historically been a large producer ofcotton,tobacco, andrice, but it has declined in agricultural production over the past century.Florida leads the nation in citrus production and is the number two producer of oranges in the world behind onlyBrazil.

The U.S. has led developments in seed improvement, such ashybridization, and in expanding uses for crops from the work ofGeorge Washington Carver tobioplastics andbiofuels. Themechanization of farming andintensive farming have been major themes inU.S. history, includingJohn Deere's steel plow,Cyrus McCormick'smechanical reaper,Eli Whitney'scotton gin, and the widespread success of theFordson tractor and thecombine harvester. Modern agriculture in the U.S. ranges fromhobby farms and small-scale producers to largecommercial farms that cover thousands of acres of cropland orrangeland.

Corn,turkeys,tomatoes,potatoes,peanuts, andsunflower seeds constitute some of the major holdovers from theagricultural endowment of the Americas.

Colonists had more access to land in the colonial United States than they did in Europe. The organization of labor was complex including free persons, slaves and indentured servants depending on the regions where either slaves or poor landless laborers were available to work on family farms.^[4]

European agricultural practices greatly affected theNew England landscape. Colonists brought livestock over from Europe which caused many changes to the land. Grazing animals required a lot of land and food and the act of grazing itself destroyed native grasses, which were being replaced by European species. New species of weeds were introduced and began to thrive as they were capable of withstanding the grazing of animals, whereas native species could not.^[5]

The practices associated with keeping livestock also contributed to the deterioration of the forests and fields. Colonists would cut down the trees and then allow their cattle and livestock to graze freely in the forest and never plant more trees. The animals trampled and tore up the ground so much as to cause long-term destruction and damage.^[5]

Soil exhaustion was a huge problem in New England agriculture. Farming with oxen did allow the colonist to farm more land but it increased erosion and decreasedsoil fertility. This was due to deeper plow cuts in the soil that allowed the soil more contact with oxygen causingnutrient depletion. In grazing fields in New England, the soil was being compacted by the large number of cattle and this did not give the soil enough oxygen to sustain life.^[5]

In the United States, farms spread from the colonies westward along with the settlers. In cooler regions,wheat was often the crop of choice when lands were newly settled, leading to a "wheat frontier" that moved westward over the course of years. Also very common in the antebellumMidwest was farmingcorn while raisinghogs, complementing each other especially since it was difficult to get grain to market before the canals and railroads. After the "wheat frontier" had passed through an area, more diversified farms includingdairy cattle generally took its place. Warmer regions saw plantings ofcotton and herds ofbeef cattle. In the early colonial South, raisingtobacco and cotton was common, especially through the use of slave labor until theCivil War. With an established source for labor, and the development of thecotton gin in 1793, the South was able to maintain an economy based on the production of cotton. By the late 1850s, the South produced one-hundred percent of the 374 million pounds of cotton used in the United States. The rapid growth in cotton production was possible because of the availability of slaves.^[6] In the northeast, slaves were used in agriculture until the early 19th century.^[7] In the Midwest, slavery was prohibited by theFreedom Ordinance of 1787.

The introduction and broad adoption of scientific agriculture since the mid-19th century contributed to economic growth in the United States. This development was facilitated by theMorrill Act and theHatch Act of 1887 which established in each state aland-grant university (with a mission to teach and study agriculture) and a federally funded system ofagricultural experiment stations andcooperative extension networks which placeextension agents in each state.

Soybeans were not widely cultivated in the United States until the early 1930s, and by 1942 it became the world's largest soybean producer, due in part to World War II and the "need for domestic sources of fats, oils, and meal". Between 1930 and 1942, the United States' share of world soybean production grew from 3% to 47%, and by 1969 it had risen to 76%. By 1973 soybeans were the United States' "number onecash crop, and leading export commodity, ahead of both wheat and corn".^[8] Although soybeans developed as the topcash crop,corn also remains as an important commodity. As the basis for "industrial food," corn is found in most modern day items at the grocery store. Aside from items like candy and soda, which containhigh fructose corn-syrup, corn is also found in non-edible items like the shining wax on store advertisements.^[9]

Significant areas of farmland were abandoned during theGreat Depression and incorporated into nascentnational forests. Later, "Sodbuster" and "Swampbuster" restrictions written into federal farm programs starting in the 1970s reversed a decades-long trend ofhabitat destruction that began in 1942 when farmers were encouraged to plant all possible land in support of the war effort. In the United States, federal programs administered through localSoil and Water Conservation Districts providetechnical assistance and partial funding to farmers who wish to implement management practices to conserve soil and limit erosion and floods.^[10]

Farmers in the early United States were open to planting new crops, raising new animals and adopting new innovations as increased agricultural productivity in turn increased the demand for shipping services, containers, credit, storage, and the like.^[11]

Although four million farms disappeared in the United States between 1948 and 2015, total output from the farms that remained more than doubled. The number of farms with more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) almost doubled between 1987 and 2012, while the number of farms with 200 acres (81 ha) to 999 acres (404 ha) fell over the same period by 44%.^[12]

Farm productivity increased in the United States from the mid-20th century until the late-20th century when productivity began to stall.^[13]

From 1986 to 2018 about 30 million acres of cropland were abandoned.^[14]

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such asmelon (872),pumpkin (683),grapefruit (558),cranberry (404),cherry (312),blueberry (255),rye (214),olive (138), and others.^[16]

Tonnes of United States agriculture production, as reported by theFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N. in 2003 and 2013 (ranked roughly in order of value):^[17]

Other crops appearing in the top 20 at some point in the last 40 years were:tobacco,barley, andoats, and, rarely:peanuts,almonds, andsunflower seeds.Alfalfa andhay would both be in the top ten in 2003 if they were tracked by FAO.

Note alfalfa and hay are not tracked by the FAO and the production of tobacco in the United States has fallen 60% between 1997 and 2003.

Heavily mechanized, U.S. agriculture has a high yield relative to other countries. As of 2004:^[20]

• Corn for grain, average of 160.4 bushels harvested per acre (10.07 t/ha)
• Soybean for beans, average of 42.5 bushels harvested per acre (2.86 t/ha)
• Wheat, average of 43.2 bushels harvested per acre (2.91 t/ha, was 44.2 bu/ac or 2.97 t/ha in 2003)

The major livestock industries in the United States:

• Dairy cattle
• Beef cattle
• Pig
• Poultry
• Seafood
• Sheep

Goats,horses,turkeys andbees are also raised, though in lesser quantities. Inventory data is not as readily available as for the major industries. For the three major goat-producing states—Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas—there were 1.2 million goats at the end of 2002. There were 5.3 million horses in the United States at the end of 1998. There were 2.5 million colonies of bees at the end of 2005.

Farm type is based on which commodities are the majority crops grown on a farm. Nine common types include:^[24][25][26]

• Cash grains includescorn,soybeans and other grains (wheat,oats,barley,sorghum), dry ediblebeans,peas, andrice.
• Tobacco
• Cotton
• Other field crops includespeanuts,potatoes,sunflowers,sweet potatoes,sugarcane, broomcorn,popcorn,sugar beets,mint,hops, seed crops,hay,silage, forage, etc. Tobacco and cotton can be included here if not in their own separate category.
• High-value crops includesfruits,vegetables,melons,tree nuts,greenhouse,nursery crops, and horticultural specialties.
• Cattle
• Hogs
• Dairy
• Poultry andeggs

One characteristic of theagricultural industry that sets it apart from others is the number of individuals who areself-employed. Frequently,farmers andranchers are both the principal operator, the individual responsible for successful management and day-to-day decisions, and the primary laborer for his or her operation. For agricultural workers that sustain an injury, the resultant loss of work has implications on physical health and financial stability.^[27]

The United States has over 14,000certified organic farms, covering more than 5 million acres, though this is less than 1% of total US farmland. The output of these farms has grown substantially since 2011, and exceeded US$7.5 billion in 2016.^[28]

Agriculture in the United States is primarily governed by periodically renewedU.S. farm bills. Governance is both a federal and a local responsibility with theUnited States Department of Agriculture being the federal department responsible. Government aid includes research into crop types and regional suitability as well as many kinds of federal government subsidies, price supports and loan programs. U.S. farmers are not subject toproduction quotas and some laws are different for farms compared to other workplaces.^[29][30][31]

Labor laws prohibiting children in other workplaces provide some exemptions for children working on farms with complete exemptions for children working on their family's farm.^[32] Children can also gain permits from vocational training schools or4-H clubs which allow them to do jobs they would otherwise not be permitted to do.

A large part of the U.S. farm workforce is made up of migrant and seasonal workers, many of them recent immigrants from Latin America. Additional laws apply to these workers and their housing which is often provided by the farmer.

This section is an excerpt fromFarmworkers in the United States.[edit]

This articleis written like apersonal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. Pleasehelp improve it by rewriting it in anencyclopedic style.(May 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Farmworkers in theUnited States have unique demographics, wages, working conditions, organizing, and environmental aspects. According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health in Agricultural Safety, approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019 and approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the US.^[33] A study by theUnited States Department of Agriculture found the average age of a farmworker to be 33. In 2017, the Department of Labor and Statistics found the median wage to be $23,730 a year, or $11.42 per hour.

The types of farmworkers include field crop workers, nursery workers, greenhouse workers, supervisors, etc.^[34] TheUnited States Department of Labor findings for the years 2019-2020 report that 63 percent of crop workers were born inMexico, 30 percent in the mainland United States orPuerto Rico, 5 percent inCentral America, and 2 percent in other regions.^[35] The amount of farm labor in the United States has changed substantially: in 1870, almost 50 percent of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture;^[36] as of 2008^[update], less than 2 percent of the population is directly employed in agriculture.^[37][38]

Potential health and safety issues that may be associated with farm work include vehicle rollovers, falls, musculoskeletal injuries, hazardous equipment, grain bins, pesticides, unsanitary conditions, and respiratory disease. According to the United States Department Of Labor, farmworkers are at risk of work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, and certain cancers related to chemical use.^[39] Farm workers also suffer disproportionately from heat stress, with fewer than average seeking treatment. While some progress has been made, many farm workers continue to struggle for fair pay, proper training, and safe working conditions.^[40]

Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries due to the use of chemicals and risk of injury.^[41][42] Farmers are at high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries (generaltraumatic injury andmusculoskeletal injury), work-related lung diseases,noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, chemical-related illnesses, and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure.^[42][43][44] In an average year, 516 workers die doing farm work in the U.S. (1992–2005). Every day, about 243 agricultural workers suffer lost-work-time injuries, and about 5% of these result in permanent impairment.^[45] Tractor overturns are the leading cause of agriculture-related fatal injuries, and account for over 90 deaths every year. TheNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends the use ofroll over protection structures on tractors to reduce the risk of overturn-related fatal injuries.^[45]

Farming is one of the few industries in which families (who often share the work and live on the premises) are also at risk for injuries, illness, and death. Agriculture is the most dangerous industry for young workers, accounting for 42% of all work-related fatalities of young workers in the U.S. between 1992 and 2000. In 2011, 108 youth, less than 20 years of age, died from farm-related injuries.^[46] Unlike other industries, half the young victims in agriculture were under age 15.^[47] For young agricultural workers aged 15–17, the risk of fatal injury is four times the risk for young workers in other workplaces^[48] Agricultural work exposes young workers to safety hazards such as machinery, confined spaces, work at elevations, and work around livestock. The most common causes of fatal farm-related youth injuries involve machinery, motor vehicles, or drowning. Together these three causes comprise more than half of all fatal injuries to youth on U.S. farms.^[49] Women in agriculture (including the related industries offorestry andfishing) numbered 556,000 in 2011.^[42]Agriculture in the U.S. makes up approximately 75% of thecountry's pesticide use. Agricultural workers are at high risk for being exposed to dangerous levels of pesticides, whether or not they are directly working with the chemicals.^[44] For example, with issues likepesticide drift, farmworkers are not the only ones exposed to these chemicals; nearby residents come into contact with the pesticides as well.^[50] The frequent exposure to these pesticides can have detrimental effects on humans, resulting in adverse health reactions associated withpesticide poisoning.^[51] Migrant workers, especially women, are at higher risk for health issues associated with pesticide exposure due to lack of training or appropriate safety precautions.^[52][53] United States agricultural workers experience 10,000 cases or more of physician-diagnosedpesticide poisoning annually.^[54]

This section is an excerpt fromFarmers' suicides in the United States.[edit]

Farmers' suicides in the United States refers to the instances of Americanfarmerstaking their own lives, largely since the 1980s, partly due to their falling intodebt, but mainly as a largermental-health crisis among U.S. agriculture workers. Inthe Midwest alone, over 1,500 farmers have taken their own lives since the 1980s. It mirrors a crisis happening globally: in Australia, a farmer dies by suicide every ten days;^[56] in the United Kingdom, one farmer a week takes their own life; and in France it is one every two days.Almost 300,000 farmers have died by suicide since 1995 in India.^[57][58]

Farmers are among the most likely to die by suicide, in comparison to other occupations, according to a study published in January 2020 by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).^[59] Researchers at theUniversity of Iowa found that farmers, and others in the agricultural trade, had the highest suicide rate of all occupations from 1992 to 2010, the years covered in a 2017 study.^[59] The rate was 3.5 times that of the general population.^[59] This echoed a study conducted the previous year by the CDC^[60] and another undertaken by theNational Rural Health Association (NRHA).^[61]

Most family farmers seem to agree on what led to their plight:government policy. In the years after theNew Deal, they say, the United States set a price floor for farmers, essentially ensuring they received a minimum wage for the crops they produced. But the government began rolling back this policy in the 1970s, and now the global market largely determines the price they get for their crops. Big farms can make do with lower prices for crops by increasing their scale; a few cents per gallon of cow's milk adds up if you have thousands of cows.

—Time, November 27, 2019

As of April 2023, the suicide rate within the farming community exceeds that of the general population by three and a half times.^[61]

The number of women working in agriculture has risen and the 2002 census of agriculture recorded a 40% increase in the number of female farm workers.^[71] Inequality and respect are common issues for these workers, as many have reported that they are not being respected, listened to, or taken seriously due to traditional views of women as housewives and caretakers.^[72]

Women may also face resistance when attempting to advance to higher positions. Other issues reported by female farm workers include receiving less pay than their male counterparts and a refusal or reluctance by their employers to offer their female workers the same additional benefits given to male workers such as housing.^[73]

As of 2012, there were 44,629 African-American farmers in the United States. The vast majority of African-American farmers were in southern states.^[74]

Historically, farmland has been owned by small property owners, but as of 2017 institutional investors, including foreign corporations, had been purchasing farmland.^[75] In 2013 the largest producer of pork,Smithfield Foods, was bought by a company from China.^[75]

As of 2017, only about 4% of farms have sales over $1m, but these farms yield two-thirds of total output.^[76] Some of these are large farms have grown organically from private family-owned businesses.^[76]

In the case of themeat-packing industry, large processing companies such asTyson Foods,Hormel Foods andPilgrim's Pride contract out to farmers to grow the chickens or then to then processing, package, and possibly market under their own brands.^[77] For example, in the 1960s, poultry processing companies experimented with owning and operating their own farms, but shifted away from it in later decades.^[77]

As of 2019, six states—Hawaii,Iowa,Minnesota,Mississippi,North Dakota, andOklahoma—have laws banning foreign ownership of farmland.Missouri,Ohio, and Oklahoma are looking to introduce bills banning foreign ownership as of 2019.^[78][79]

• Mbow, Cheikh; Rosenzweig; Barioni, Luis .G.; Benton, Tim .G. (2019). "Food security". In Shukla, P.R.; Skea, J.; Buendia, E. Calvo; Masson-Delmotte, V. (eds.).Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. IPCC.

• Huning, Wang.The decline of the farm (1991)
• Cochrane, Willard.The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis (1998)
• Conkin, Paul.A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture since 1929 (2008)
• Gardner, Bruce L. (2002).American Agriculture in the Twentieth Century: How It Flourished and What It Cost.Harvard University Press.ISBN 0-674-00748-4.
• Hurt, R. Douglas.A Companion to American Agricultural History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022)
• Lauck, Jon.American agriculture and the problem of monopoly: the political economy of grain belt farming, 1953-1980 (U of Nebraska Press, 2000).
• Riney-Kehrberg, Pamela. ed.The Routledge History of Rural America (2018)
• Schapsmeier, Edward L; and Frederick H. Schapsmeier.Encyclopedia of American agricultural history (1975)online
• Schmidt, Louis Bernard, and Earle Dudley Ross, eds.Readings in the economic history of American agriculture (Macmillan, 1925) excerpts from scholarly studies, colonial era to 1920s.online.
• Spitze, Robert G. F.; Harold G. Halcrow; Joyce E. Allen-Smith (1994).Food and Agricultural Policy.Mcgraw-Hill College.ISBN 0-07-025800-7.
• Winterbottom, Jo; Huffstutter, P. J. (Feb. 2015).Rent walkouts point to strains in U.S. farm economy,  Reuters

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAgriculture in the United States.

• United States Department of Agriculture
• National Ag Safety Database
• North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural TasksArchived 2013-01-17 at theWayback Machine

• Agriculture in the United States
• United States agricultural policy
• United States federal policy

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with excerpts
• Commons category link from Wikidata