"If you eat, you are a part of agriculture." - Wendell Berry
Look around your house. Everything from wood framing to a Roomba is, in one way or another, impacted by agriculture. Here are five facts you should know about the food you eat and the farmers who grew it.
1. Farmers and Ranchers make up around 1.3% of the U.S. Population.
Source: USDA
Believe it or not, farms in the U.S. are very efficient. Even though such a small portion of people are involved in agriculture, the U.S. is producing a lot! In 2017, "agriculture, food, and related industries contributed $1.109 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)."
2. The majority of farms are small, but large farms produce the most.
Source: USDA
You hear a lot about factory farms, but they only account for around 3% of the United State's farms. Meanwhile, many small farms are family-run and many rely on off-farm income for stability.
3. Climate change adversely affects agriculture.
Believe it or not, farmers care about the environment. Their jobs are dependant on it! Climate change affects crop yields and work conditions for farmers. It's estimated that extreme weather may account for up to 90% of crop losses.
4. In 2019 11.1% of households were food insecure.
Source: USDA
Over one in ten Americans was food insecure in 2019. Take a moment to let that settle in. The good news is, that is down from 13.5% in 2009.
5. There will be an estimated 9.1 billion people in the world by 2050
That's a lot of mouths to feed! It's estimated that global agriculture will have to expand by 70% to account for that growth.
Thank your local farmers!
