Farm & Ranch Guide: North Dakota's Ag Newspaper

Our Views

How many of you were aware that last week the United States celebrated National Ag Week (March 16-22) or that Thursday, March 20, was designated as “National Ag Day?”

We'd venture to guess that a large number of our readers knew that because agriculture is their profession. We'd also venture to guess that the majority of the general public was probably not aware...and that's too bad because there are some wonderful things to know about agriculture, things that would refute some of the things agriculture is being criticized for these days.

Lately agriculture has been taking a bad rap because people are incorrectly associating rising food costs with the high prices for some of our commodities. But the fact of the matter is that there's much more to the story.

Rising fuel, energy and transportation costs have more to do with rising food costs than does higher priced wheat or corn. The devalued U.S. dollar, strong world demand for many of our commodities and weather-related production problems are just some of the things contributing to this “perfect storm.”

We concede that food prices are rising, but what costs aren't rising? When was the last time you went to the car dealer and bought a new car for less than the previous model? Did you buy gas for that vehicle? Is the price of fuel where it was six months ago? The same as last week? Yesterday?

And even if food prices are rising, the U.S. still has the safest and most plentiful food supply in the world ... and we pay less for it than most other countries.

Did you know that about 19 cents of every consumer dollar spent on food actually goes to the farmer? The other 81 cents is spent on processing, packaging, marketing, transportation, distribution, and retail costs.

Think the cost of food is high? Consider that it takes the average American only about 35 days to earn enough disposable income to pay for all the food he/she consumes at home and away from home during the entire year. Compare that to taxes. It takes more than 100 days of earned income on average to pay all federal, state, and local taxes each year.

Is agriculture perfect? By no means. It, like practically any industry, has its problems and issues it must deal with. Recent vegetable and beef recalls are two things that come to mind. But the industry is dealing with those in a positive manner to reassure the consumer the U.S. still has the safest food supply in the world.

The next time “Joe Public” criticizes farming or ranching perhaps producers should trot out some of these interesting statistics about today's agriculture industry:

Did you know....

- that 1,960 loaves of bread can be produced from one acre of wheat producing an average of 35 bushels per acre (about 56 loaves of bread per bushel)?

- that an increase from $4 to $12 for a bushel of wheat only increases the wheat cost for a loaf of bread by 14 cents per loaf?

- that 46 percent of the world's soybeans, 41 percent of the world's corn, 20 percent of the world's cotton, and 13 percent of the world's wheat is produced by U.S. farmers?

- that approximately 16-17 percent of the total U.S. work force (22 million people) is involved in the U.S. agriculture industry to produce, process, sell, and trade the nation's food and fiber?

- that the soil erosion rate on U.S. crop land has declined by over 40 percent since 1982?

- that fresh beef sold at the retail meat counter in the U.S. has 27 percent less fat content than 20 years ago?

Today, an average pork tenderloin only has about one gram more fat than a skinless chicken breast, which is considered among the leanest of meat products.

- that a single dairy cow produces enough each day for 7 gallons of fluid milk, 2.9 pounds of butter, and 6.0 pounds of cheese?

- that harvest efficiency is nine times better today than it was 75 years ago?

(Today's modern combines harvest about 900 bushels of corn per hour, or 100 bushels every seven minutes. In comparison, a farmer would harvest about 100 bushels of corn in a nine hour day in the 1930s.)

- that the average U.S. farmer produces enough food and fiber for about 150 people? (Compare that to just 19 people in 1940, or 46 people in 1960, or 115 people in 1980.)

Although National Ag Week has come and gone, anytime is a good time to celebrate agriculture and reflect on all the traditions and advancements that help make the U.S. agriculture industry the best in the world!