Reliable Agriculture

Paige Emerich
David Little
Charles Nelson

Agriculture is an integral part of the United States in numerous ways. Many jobs not only come directly from farms or ranches but also from those who support the agriculture communities. Moving the entire production of United States agriculture out of the country into tropical regions would be disastrous to the people of the United States. It would not only effect the smallest agriculture communities but also the largest cities right down to the infrastructure of our country. Our economy was based on agriculture since its conception in 1776 and has relied heavily on it ever since then. Imports and exports have played a key role in our financial status as a country and in our relations with other countries.

The word “tropics” comes from the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the latitude lines at 23.5°, which is derived from the outer limits of the area where the sun is perpendicular with the earth. (McGregor and Nieuwolt 1998) Most of the countries in this region are either developing or underdeveloped countries.

A farm or ranch is defined as any establishment from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were sold or would normally be sold during the year. To be considered a commercial farm or ranch, an establishment would have to sell more than ,000 of products a year. Agricultural products can be classified as bulk, intermediate, or consumer oriented products that were produced by a farm or ranch.

The factor that would be most detrimental to the United States when moving agriculture out of the country would be its impact on our economy. Although not the largest part of our Gross Domestic Product it is an essential part. Last year in 1999 the nations GDP was approximately ,255,000,000,000 and in that we had ,000,000,000 from agriculture exports. One cannot measure the benefits agriculture puts in the economy by products sold in the United States alone. There are many factors to consider to see what kind of revenue it gives to the country. If agriculture did not exist there would be no need for people to own lands and in turn with no one owning land there would be no land tax, which is also huge revenue for the United States government. On a smaller note the revenue that small towns add to our economy not in the terms of agriculture spending but in local economy spending and how it would impact us. Sales tax alone is enough to consider in a small town when all of the purchases are added up.

The United States has 10 major farm production regions in the United States that differ in soils, slope of the land, climate, distance to market, and storage and marketing facilities. Broiler farming, maple tapping, and lumber are important in Maine, Delaware, and Maryland. Moving west to the Appalachian region you find tobacco, peanuts, cattle, hog, and dairy production are predominant in this area. The Northeastern States and the Lake States are the Nation’s principal milk-producing areas. Climate and soil in these regions are suited to raising grains and forage for cattle and for providing pastureland for grazing. In the Southeastern region, beef and broilers are substantial while products like fruits, vegetables, and peanuts are important. Big citrus groves, winter vegetables, and sugarcane production areas in Florida are major suppliers of agricultural goods. Cotton is another major crop in this area. The mountain states provide cattle, sheep hay, sugar beets, potatoes, fruits. These are only 5 of the regions according to the United States Department of Agriuculture. Our country is one of the most diverse in the world and we rely on every part of to produce certain things we need and want from agriculture

Knowing what our country produces for itself raises a good question. Are the countries in the tropics willing and able to produce the food that America needs? As stated before most of the countries that fall in this region are underdeveloped and most likely would welcome the chance for more income from a steady source. Their work force, however, is not reliable or possibly not even big enough to keep up with the demand our country would place on them. There is child labor in these countries and this unjust practice increase would expand with the work load increasing. The United States has put pressure on countries in the past who have used child labor even though they were getting paid good money for their nations income. These countries would not want these demands put on them and in turn their people leaving us to produce the food and materials for ourselves for ourselves.

The tropics would have great difficulty raising and growing the diverse products that we desire and are accustomed to in the quantities that our own economy provides. First, their ecosystem is entirely different from ours in almost every way. There are very few reasons that growing some crops would actually be easier there, and for the most part they couldn’t do it. Their soil does not have enough replacement nutrients to be able to support sustainable lumber production. They could have a good first year of lumber production but after that it would take considerable time to get the nutrients back to produce the products we desired. Secondly, the livestock production would deteriorate for two reasons. The open land mass that livestock need is just not available with some of the mountainous terrain, trees, and marsh land. Also livestock and animals do not eat as much in the heat and we would have a less desirable product. Lastly, the tropical regions cannot grow some of the products that we produce here. Most cereals would not be able to grow do to lack of nutrients and a wet environment leaving us looking for somewhere else for them.

Energy usage would be yet another factor when looking at the worldwide picture. In the U.S. agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of the total consumption of managed water resources. (Alexandratos 1995) Surface water in the tropical region contains dissolved salts. This causes a need for irrigators to apply more water. In some of these areas there are problems with water availability, and our increasing water consumption could cause an enormous catastrophe. Pesticides usage would have to increase to give us our desired product in the desired form. Transportation is yet another energy using factor that we must consider. Not only would fuel consumption increase greatly, but chemicals used for refrigeration and product preservation would increase. Leaving not only the U.S. but also the world more heavily dependent on fossil fuels and other energy sources.

Another factor to look at is our need to be able to produce our own food. We cannot and must not leave our lively hood in the hands of another country. War is almost a constant in our ever-diverse world, and in times of war how could we even possibly think of our survival depending on another country. When World War II came it triggered an almost complete break and what was left of international trade went to shambles ( Bay, et all 2000). The possibility of going to war with one of our agriculture producing countries would be disastrous, but the chance of losing trade routes and other modes of transportation could bring our country to its knees.

As a way of life agriculture has been a staple in the American way since it’s beginning and it is inter twined in our fibers of our history. Before modern day agriculture almost everyone was directly involved or had a small part in agriculture and its production. Today that number has dwindled down to less than 2%, but we still hold onto our ideals. If we totally eradicated agriculture in the U.S. it would take a large slice of tradition that is essential to us as a country not only as a way of life, but also our identity. Agriculture makes possible to the average person the simple pleasure of going out to a fruit farm and picking your own fruit or watching a rodeo on a weekend to instilling patriotic feelings in a person knowing that we can support ourselves and not have to rely on anyone else. It also seems to be a way that Americans look to for our ruggedness and our strength. There were 2,163,910 farms and ranches in 1996 supported by families and communities that relied on them to exist. The desecration of agriculture in the U.S. would totally kill this way of life for everyone.

Agriculture is as important to America as the constitution. It’s everywhere we look and live whether we know it’s there or not. Our country depends on it not only as a huge part in our economic system, but our ability to stand as a country. Moving all of agriculture out of our country and into a tropical zone would not only cripple, but also take away a part of us that could never be replaced by any other production.