A Few Farming Facts

This month I would like to share some facts that hopefully will increase your appreciation for the great miracle of modem agriculture, and for those who produce the majority of the food we eat, the American farmer.

In 1850, it took 75 to 90 labor hours and 2 1/2 acres to produce 100 bushels of corn. Today, it takes about 214 hours and one acre. Southeastern Arizona, however averages over that amount, and has the highest corn yields for any region of the United States.

The sweet aroma of freshly turned soil comes from the soil bacteria genius Actinomycetes.

Every cubic inch of topsoil may contain over a billion creatures, mostly bacteria, microbes, and fungi. We need them because they make nutrients available to plants. All soils are teaming with life, except after a nuclear bomb explosion!

How big is an acre? If it were a square, it would be just over 208 feet on each side. A football field covers 1.03 acres. It is the amount of land that a man could plow in a day with a yoke of oxen. Oxen are bovine (cows, steers, and bulls) trained as draft animals.

Americans spend about 11% of their disposable income on food. In France, and much of Europe, it's 26% or more, Mexico, 32% and in China, 48%. What would you do if you, like a French person, had to spend 15% more of your disposable income on food?

Water traveling at 10 miles per hour can carry four times the sediment load than water going 5 mph. That's why filter strips, terraces, contours, etc. are so effective. They slow water down.

On average, one American farmer produces enough food and fiber for 129 people: 95 in the United States and 34 abroad. In 1900, each farmer fed less than ten people.

Of all the earth's water, 97% is saltwater and 2% is frozen in polar icecaps. Only 1% is usable fresh water.

The atmosphere around the earth carries about a ten-day supply of fresh water-about one inch of rain.

Water is the only substance necessary to all life; many organisms can live without oxygen, but none can live without water.

The United States uses three times as much water a day, 1,300 gallons per person, as the average European country. Americans like to bathe and shower quite a bit!

The average American uses 60 gallons of water in the house each day. In our house of seven that would be 420 gallons of water a day. We do not use that much because we conserve, do you?

Sources: Farming for Clean Water in South Carolina. Natural and Environmental Resources Report. American Farm Bureau Federation.