Did You Know? Facts about America's Farmers

Every day, America's farm families rise to meet the challenge of feeding and clothing the world. Satisfying world demand is exactly what they do. America sends her bounty all over the world, and it all starts on family farms.

To these men and women, the land is more than a livelihood – it's a legacy. It's a resource to be cared for, preserved, improved and passed to the next generation. They're the caretakers of our land. They make their living from it. They provide for us with it.

In some way, we're all connected to agriculture. Learn more about what America's farmers provide for us every day.

U.S. Farm Facts

• To keep up with population growth more food will have to be produced in the next 50 years as the past 10,000 years combined.

• Today, the average U.S. farmer feeds 155 people. In 1960, a farmer fed just 26 people.

• Today’s farmer grows twice as much food as his parents did – using less land, energy, water and fewer emissions.

• American farmers ship more than $100 billion of their crops and products to many nations.

• U.S. farmers produce about 40 percent of the world's corn, using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world.

• Farmers are a direct lifeline to more than 24 million U.S. jobs in all kinds of industries.

• In the past five years, U.S. farm operators have become more demographically diverse. The 2007 census counted nearly 30 percent more women as principal farm operators. The count of Hispanic operators grew by 10 percent, and the counts of American Indian, Asian and African-American farm operators increased as well.

U.S. Corn Facts

• One bushel of corn is 56 pounds. That means U.S. farmers produce an average of more than 9,000 pounds of corn per acre. 

• If U.S. farmers used crop production practices from 1931 to produce an amount of corn equivalent to the 2008 crop, it would require 490 million acres—an area more than 120 million acres larger than the state of Alaska.

• The U.S. produces about 40 percent of the world's corn – using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world.

• Individuals or families own 82 percent of corn farms. Another 6 percent are family-held corporations.

• Less than 15 percent of U.S. corn acres are irrigated.

• Farmers today produce 70 percent more corn per pound of fertilizer than as recently as the 1970s.

• Corn farmers have reduced total fertilizer use by 10 percent since 1980.

• According to the USDA, one acre of corn… removes about 8 tons of carbon dioxide from the air in a growing season…at 180 bushels per acre produces enough oxygen to supply a year’s needs for 131 people.

• Corn production has marched steadily upward for decades while using fewer acres.

• American farmers produced the five largest corn crops in history during the past five years. Even after supplying food-makers, ranchers, ethanol producers and grain exporters, America will again be able to save 10 percent of this year’s harvest for the future.

• Farmers today grow five times as much corn as they did in the 1930s — on 20 percent less land. That is still 13 million acres, or 20,000 square miles, twice the size of Massachusetts.

• The yield per acre has skyrocketed from 24 bushels in 1931 to 154 now, or a six-fold gain.

U.S. Soybean Facts

• Farmers in more than 30 U.S. states grow soybeans, making soybeans the country’s second-largest crop in cash sales and the number one value crop export.

• Soy ink is used to print textbooks and newspapers.

• The soybean is the highest natural source of dietary fiber.

• The livestock industry is the largest consumer of soy meal.

• In 2008, soybeans represented 56 percent of world oilseed production, and 33 percent of those soybeans were produced by the American farmer.

• The U.S. exported 1.16 billion bushels (31.6 million metric tons) of soybeans in 2008, which accounted for 40 percent of the world's soybean trade.

• A 60-pound bushel of soybeans yields about 48 pounds of protein-rich meal and 11 pounds of oil.

• One and a half gallons of biodiesel and 48 pounds of soybean meal can be produced from one bushel of soybeans.

U.S. Cotton Facts

• A bale of cotton weighs about 500 pounds.

• U.S. textile mills will spin almost 3 million bales of cotton this year. That's enough cotton to make more than 600 million pairs of men's jeans and more than 2 billion men's dress shirts.

• One bale of cotton can make...

  • 215 Pairs of Jeans
  • 249 Bed Sheets
  • 409 Men's Sport Shirts
  • 690 Terry Bath Towels
  • 765 Men's Dress Shirts
  • 1,217 Men's T-Shirts
  • 1,256 Pillowcases
  • 2,104 Pairs of Boxer Shorts
  • 2,419 Pairs of Men's Briefs
  • 3,085 Diapers
  • 4,321 Mid-Calf Socks
  • 6,436 Pairs of Women's Knit Briefs
  • 21,960 Women's Handkerchiefs
  • 313,600 $100 Bills

Sources of Information: USDA ERS, FAO, EPA, USDA Census of Ag, USDA FAS and NCGA