Farm Facts and Inventions

Bits and pieces about American agriculture since the 1930's

20 mule team

In the 1930’s, 25% of the population lived on a farm, now it is less than 2%

From a peak of 6-1/2 million farms in 1935, 5-1/2 million in a 1950, a 1992 census counted only 1,925,300 American farms left, less than during the pre-Civil War days of 1860.

In 1996, 25 percent of the farms accounted for 88 percent of production.

In 1997, by another count there were 2,190,510 farms left, of these;

• 1,191,050 farms produced less than $10,000
• 645,960 farms produced $10,000 to $99,999
• 353,500 farms produced more than $100,000

These largest operations (353,500 farms) controlled 532,150,000 of the 956,010,000 total farmland acres (more than half)

Incredibly... America has almost one billion farmland acres !!

Today, agriculture (the entire food and fiber industry) accounts for 13% of America’s worth

Today, Americans spend about 10% of their disposable income on food, in many other countries it’s more than 50%

Farm facts for year 2000

* 17% of the American workforce, or 25 million jobs, were involved in some phase of agriculture, either growing, processing or distributing... making the food and fiber system the nation’s largest employer.

* U.S. agricultural exports (excluding fish and forestry products) totaled $51.6 billion dollars and generated and additional $116 billion in business.

* Production alone (farms) added $82 billion to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

* Eight states had exports of $1 billion or more

* Excluding farm labor, 444,000 people processed, packaged, stored, financed, marketed and shipped agricultural products.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Other farm trivia:

In 1999, U.S. agricultural exports were $48 billion, being the fifth (5) largest category behind;

(1) Transportation Equipment ($124.8 billion)

(2) Electronic and Electric Equipment ($118.8 billion)

(3) Industrial Machinery and Computers ($118.1 billion)

(4) Chemical Products ($67.2 billion)

Total U.S. exports in goods and services (all categories) were $960 billion, up 56% from 1992.

Sources: U.S. Commerce Dept and U.S. Department of Agriculture

Note: Because prices American farmers receive have not increased in the past three decades, the average annual exports usually stay between $40-50 billion. Once accounting for a huge share of the total U.S. exports until the 1980's, or about 60%, continual depressed prices have caused agricultural exports to continually slip in the rankings (now 5th).

Farm equipment...year of introduction

1793- cotton gin invented
1797- cast-iron plow
1819- plow with interchangeable parts
1825- canning industry established
1834- McCormick reaper patented
1837- steel plow
1837- threshing machine patented
1841- grain-drill patented
1842- grain elevator
1844- mowing machine patented
1849- mixed chemical fertilizers available
1854- self-regulating windmill
1856- horse-drawn cultivator patented
1865- gang plows began use
1868- steam tractors tested
1869- spring-tooth harrow
1870- silos
1870- deep well-drilling
1874- barbed wire
1884- horse drawn combine
1890- cream separator
1910- gasoline tractor
1926- cotton stripper
1930- rubber-tired tractor
1930- two-row equipment
1942- spindle cotton-picker
1945- four-row equipment, 2 row cotton pickers
1954- the first year more tractors were used on farms than horses and mules

Go back to (or see more) agricultural articles
Also see organic farming and gardening information
Also see Arizona agribusiness - directories

Last modified: 04/27/13