Agriculture in the United States

A wheat harvest in Idaho

This photo from a 1921 encyclopedia shows a tractor ploughing a crop field.

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food. As of the last census of agriculture in 2007, there were 2.2 million farms, covering an area of 922 million acres (3,730,000 km²), an average of 418 acres (1.69 km²) per farm. Although agricultural activity occurs in most states, it is particularly concentrated in the vast expanse of flat, arable land known as the Great Plains, which encompasses the central region of the nation.

History

Main article: Agricultural history of the United States

Cotton farming on a Southern plantation in 1921

Corn, turkeys, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, and sunflower seeds constitute some of the major holdovers from the agricultural endowment of the Americas.

European agricultural practices greatly affected the New England landscape, leaving behind many physical foot prints. Colonists brought livestock over from Europe which caused many changes to the land. Grazing animals required a lot of land and food to sustain them and due to grazing, native grasses were destroyed and European species began to replace them. 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.

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.

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 decreased soil fertility. This was due to deeper plow cuts in the soil that allowed the soil more contact with oxygen causing nutrient depletion. In grazing fields, the large number of cattle in the New England, the soil was being compacted by the cattle and this didn't give the soil enough oxygen to sustain life.

In the U.S., 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 antebellum Midwest was farming corn while raising hogs, 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 including dairy cattle generally took its place. Warmer regions saw plantings of cotton and herds of beef cattle. In the early colonial south, raising tobacco and cotton was common, especially through the use of slave labor until the Civil War. In the northeast, slaves were used in agriculture until the early 19th century.^{[citation needed]} In the Midwest, slavery was prohibited by the Freedom Ordinance of 1787.

The introduction and broad adoption of scientific agriculture since the mid nineteenth century has made a large improvement in the USA's economic growth. This development was facilitated by the Morrill Act and the Hatch Act of 1887 which established in each state a land-grant university (with a mission to teach and study agriculture) and a federally funded system of agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension networks which place extension agents in each state.

Soybeans were not widely cultivated in the United States until the 1950s, when soybeans began to replace oats and wheat.

Significant areas of farmland were abandoned during the Great Depression and incorporated into nascent national forests. Later, "Sodbuster" and "Swampbuster" restrictions written into federal farm programs starting in the 1970s reversed a decades-long trend of habitat 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 local Soil and Water Conservation Districts provide technical assistance and partial funding to farmers who wish to implement management practices to conserve soil and limit erosion.

Major agricultural products

Satellite image of circular crop fields characteristic of center pivot irrigation in Kansas (June 2001). Healthy, growing crops are green. Corn would be growing into leafy stalks by late June. Sorghum, which resembles corn, grows more slowly and would be much smaller and therefore, possibly paler. Wheat is a brilliant gold as harvest occurs in June. Fields of brown have been recently harvested and plowed under or lie fallow for the year.

The top twenty agricultural products of the United States by value as reported by the FAO in 2003 (ranked in order of value with volume in metric tons):

1.	Corn	256,900,000
2.	Cattle meat	11,736,000
3.	Cow's milk, whole, fresh	78,155,000
4.	Chicken meat	15,006,000
5.	Soybeans	65,800,000
6.	Pig meat	8,574,000
7.	Wheat	63,590,000
8.	Cotton lint	3,968,000
9.	Hen eggs	5,141,000
10.	Turkey meat	2,584,000
11.	Tomatoes	12,275,000
12.	Potatoes	20,820,000
13.	Grapes	6,126,000
14.	Oranges	10,473,000
15.	Rice, paddy	9,034,000
16.	Apples	4,242,000
17.	Sorghum	10,446,000
18.	Lettuce	4,490,000
19.	Cottonseed	6,073,000
20.	Sugar beets	27,760,000

The only other crops to ever appear in the top 20 in the last 40 years were, commonly, tobacco, barley, and oats, and, rarely, peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds (in all, only 26 of the 188 crops the FAO tracks worldwide). Alfalfa and hay would both be in the top ten in 2003 if they were tracked by FAO.

Crops

Value of production

Rice paddy, California

Major Crops in the U.S.A. - 1997 (in US$ billions)
Corn	$24.4
Soybeans	$17.7
Wheat	$8.6
Alfalfa	$8.3
Cotton	$6.1
Hay, other than alfalfa	$5.1
Tobacco	$3.0
Rice	$1.7
Sorghum	$1.4
Barley	$.9
Source: 1997 USDA-NASS reports, [3]

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

Yield

U.S. agriculture has a high yield relative to other countries. The yield was (in 2004):

• 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)

Livestock

The major livestock industries in the United States are:

• Dairy cattle
• Beef cattle
• Swine (also called hogs or pigs)
• Poultry
• Sheep

US Livestock and Poultry Inventory

Type	1997	2002	2007
Cattle and calves	99,907,017	95,497,994	96,347,858
Hogs and pigs	61,188,149	60,405,103	67,786,318
Sheep and lambs	8,083,457	6,341,799	5,819,162
Broilers & other meat chickens	1,214,446,356	1,389,279,047	1,602,574,592
Laying hens	314,144,304	334,435,155	349,772,558

Goats, horses, turkeys and bees 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 (AZ, NM, and TX) there were 1,200,000 goats at the end of 2002. There were 5,300,000 horses in the United States at the end of 1998. There were 2,500,000 colonies of bees at the end of 2002.

Farm type or majority enterprise type

Farm type is based on which commodities are the majority crops grown on a farm. Nine common types include:

• Cash grains includes corn, soybeans and other grains (wheat, oats, barley, sorghum), dry edible beans, peas, and rice.
• Tobacco
• Cotton
• Other field crops includes peanuts, 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 includes fruits, vegetables, melons, tree nuts, greenhouse, nursery crops, and horticultural specialties.
• Cattle
• Hogs
• Dairy
• Poultry and Eggs

[4] [5] [6]

Governance

Agriculture subsidy, from a Congressional Budget Office report. Note: chart does not show sugar subsidies.

Main articles: Agricultural policy in the United States and Agricultural subsidy

Agriculture in the United States is primarily governed by periodically renewed U.S. farm bills. Governance is both a federal and a local responsibility with the United 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 subsidies, some price supports and loan programs. U.S. farmers are not subject to production quotas and some laws are different for farms compared to other workplaces.

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. Children can also gain permits from vocational training schools or the 4-H club 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 or aliens working under work permits. Additional laws apply to these workers and their housing which is often provided by the farmer.

Employment

In 1870, 70-80 percent of the US population was employed in agriculture.^{[citation needed]} As of 2008, approximately 2-3 percent of the population is directly employed in agriculture.

In 2010, there were 1,202,500 farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers and an estimated 757,900 agricultural workers were legally employed in the US. Animal breeders accounted for 11,500 of those workers with the rest categorized as miscellaneous agricultural workers. The median pay was $9.12 per hour or $18,970 per year.

Agriculture safety and health

Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries. Farmers are at high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries, work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, chemical-related illnesses, and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. 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. Tractor overturns are the leading cause of agriculture-related fatal injuries, and account for over 90 deaths every year. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommends the use of roll over protection structures on tractors to reduce the risk of overturn-related fatal injuries.

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. Unlike other industries, half the young victims in agriculture were under age 15. For young agricultural workers aged 15–17, the risk of fatal injury is four times the risk for young workers in other workplaces 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.

Research centers

Some US research centers are focused on the topic of health and safety in agricultural practices. These centers not only conduct research on the subject of occupational disease and injury prevention, but also promote agricultural health and safety through educational outreach programs. Most of these groups are funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the US Department of Agriculture, or other state agencies. Centers include:

• Northeast Center for Agricultural and Occupational Health, New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, Cooperstown, NY
• Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
• The High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
• Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
• Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education, University of Texas, Tyler, TX
• Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, University of California, Davis, CA
• Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Medical Center, Marshfield, WI

Child Labor in Agriculture

History

In the early 1900’s 42 percent of the US population lived on family farms and children were expected to work. At the time, less than ten percent of youth graduated from high school. In 1924, congress adopted a constitutional amendment stopping child labor. In 1938, Presaident Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which included putting some limits on many forms of child labor. The amendment was sent out to be ratified by the state legislatures, but not enough states ratified the amendment, so it did not become law. Eventually, in 1949, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act completely prohibited child labor for the first time.

Current Policies

Although the Fair Labor Standard Act prohibits child labor, there are vast differences in law between what agricultural child laborers can do versus those not involved in agriculture. Current FLSA have more lenient laws for children in agriculture. According to the US Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor: Children under 12 can work non-hazardous jobs with parental consent only on farms with no employees are subject to minimum wage requirements; any children can work at any age on their parent’s farms; 10-11 year olds for short season summer jobs; and 16 year olds can drive tractors. The difference between child labor laws in agriculture and standard child labor laws is a violation of both international child labor and non-discrimination laws. Other legal violations that children on farms deal with are not having enough cold, clean water (2-3 gallons per worker) on a hot day. In addition, they do not typically have soap and water for hand washing, which is required by OSHA. It is difficult to catch child labor violations as OSHA devotes less than three percent of inspections towards agriculture.

Chemical Injuries

A major cause of concern for both adults, but specifically in children, is the exposure to chemical pesticides on the farm. It is especially difficult to measure the extent of injury because of insufficient reporting and the inability for children workers to seek medical treatment. It is believed that migrant workers suffer the highest rate of chemical injuries. The EPA estimates that about 300,000 farm workers suffer from acute pesticide poisoning in the US. Chemical injury can come from physically spraying the chemicals, coming into contact with residue, bathing or drinking contaminated water and the transfer of contaminated hands when eating or smoking. Pesticides are known to cause permanent neurologic damage and even cancer. The EPA has Worker Protection Standard for pesticides but has no special considerations for pesticides in children. This is notable, as children younger than 18 can use pesticides.

Physical Injuries

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. Unlike other industries, half the young victims in agriculture were under age 15.[15] For young agricultural workers aged 15–17, the risk of fatal injury is four times the risk for young workers in other workplaces[16] 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, drowning, stacking hay, picking up and moving large objects, and/or repetitive movements. Together these three causes comprise more than half of all fatal injuries to youth on U.S. farms.[17] There are an estimated 1.03 million children and adolescents under 20 years of age resided on farms in 2009, with about 519,000 of these youth performing work on the farms. In addition to the youth who live on farms, an additional 230,000 children and adolescents were hired to work on U.S. farms in 2009. About 113 youth less than 20 years of age die annually from farm-related injuries (1995 -2002), with most of these deaths occurring to youth 16-19 years of age (34%). Of the leading sources of fatal injuries to youth on U.S. farms, 23% percent involved machinery (includes tractors), 19% involved motor vehicles (includes ATVs), and 16% were due to drowning. In 2009, an estimated 16,100 children and adolescents were injured on farms; 3,400 of these injuries were due to farm work. To reduce the number of farm-related youth injuries, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation have issued a set of guidelines known as the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) [18] based on child development principles that matched children's abilities with the requirements of specific farm work. These guidelines have proven effective at reducing work-related injuryrates among youth living on farms in the United States.[17]

Future Direction of children in agriculture

Accroding to a USDA study from 2009, there were an estimated 2,200,010 farms in the United States, an increase of two percent from 2001. Because of this, child labor issues in agriculture may be a continued issue in the future. Although farms in the children working on farms have increased, laws regarding children on farms are becoming more lenient. In 2011, Missouri eliminated funds for child labor inspections and in 2012 Wisconsin eliminated time caps on teen work hours. Other realms of child labor have been getting stricter with the exception of those in agriculture. In 2010, the US Department of Labor created the publications for updates of child labor protections, with the exceptions of those in agriculture. Since then, the DOL has tried to make stricter changes, but withdrew the “proposed Protections for Children Working for Wages on Farms” due to outside pressure from farm lobbyists in April 2012. These proposed protections included those under 16 from:  Working in grain facilities  Tabaco harvesting (nicotine absorption)  Heights over 6 feet  Tractors without a safety course  Operating machinery HR 3564 otherwise known as CARE (Children Act for Responsible Employment) attempted to Standardize hours and minimum age like those children in other sectors, increase fines for violations of child labor to $15,000, and increase data collection from the Department of Labor. It also included provisions about children and pesticides. In 2011, this bill died in Congress. )

Resources for Farm Workers and Children on Farms

There are many organizations that one can be involved with, including:

a. National Center for Farm Worker Health, Inc. A private, non-profit organization that provides information services training and technical assistance to farm workers. They develop culturally sensitive health education materials. “Call for Health” is a hot line that provides patient navigation, interpretation services as well as finical assistance for agricultural workers.

b. United Farm Workers of America. Founded by Cesar Chavez in 1962 to fight the occupational hazards that farm workers deal with. Their current campaign involves getting the EPA to ban Chlorpyifos, an insecticide used in agriculture. Chlorpyifos was banned in home use in 2001 because it caused long term damage to children’s nervous system.

c. Association of Farm Worker Opportunity. The children in the fields campaign documents the level of child labor in agriculture and educates the public about the conditions of child laborers. They build support for policies and programs that help keep underage farm worker children out of fields and in school.

d. The National Migrant Seasonal Head Start Association. Provides educational services to children from birth to age 5. They also have ELS training to parents in addition to health, disability and nutrition programs.

e. Harvest of Hope Foundation. Provides emergency assistance and social services to migrant farm workers. They currently are seeking financial donations or used textbooks and award scholarships to migrant students.

See also

• 2010 United States tomato shortage
• Agribusiness
• Beekeeping in the United States
• Electrical energy efficiency on United States farms
• Fishing industry in the United States
• Genetic engineering in the United States
• Poultry farming in the United States
• Soil in the United States

External links

• United States Department of Agriculture
• National Ag Safety Database
• North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks