Did you know that today is National Agriculture Day in the US? That may not be remarkable in itself, but here's something that is - there are apparently 22 million people involved in agriculture in the US. Just trying to picture an ag industry that big is pretty mind-boggling. Think of the lobbying power of that many people too.
A quick bash on the calculator reveals that total to be about 7% of America's 300 million population.
It may well be that they're casting a wide net in terms of the definition of 'agriculture' and that the figure includes machinery dealers, vets, feed merchants and maybe even a chunk of the processing industry, but even so it makes the UK's equivalent figure of 2% look a bit pathetic.
And here are a couple of other striking figures.
* According to the US Department of Agriculture, each American farmer feeds more than 129 people around the globe
* In 2006 the US bioethanol industry contributed $41bn to the economy and helped create 160,000 jobs.
Here's a true story to illustrate the difference in the relationship between farmers and the public in the US and the UK.
In the UK, when you move a combine on the road, many car drivers get pretty upset that you're adding a couple of minutes to their journey time. When I visited Kansas a couple of years ago, farmers were moving combines from farm to farm on the road with the headers still attached, forcing cars to edge past on the verge to avoid them.
And how did the drivers react? With a thumbs-up or a cheery wave that acknowledged the important job these guys were doing bringing in the nation's food. God bless America for its refreshing lack of cynicism about farming.
Comments (2)
Just been researching dairy farming in India, there are roughly 70 million people involved, which is staggering! Imagine the whole of the British population (plus a few more) have a few cos in their back yards!
Comment left on March 16, 2007 3:42 PM
Posted on March 16, 2007 15:42
Actually, National Agriculture Day in the U.S. is March 21. If you are curious about more on the scope of American agriculture, you can get a lot more details than you would probably ever want from the 2002 Census of Agriculture, http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/us/index1.htm. In the statistics you will find there were more than 2 million farms in the country in 2002.
You can find cynicism about farming here too, particularly in areas where urban and rural lifestyles collide.
Comment left on March 17, 2007 4:45 AM
Posted on March 17, 2007 04:45