American agriculture today
Collection of texts about the USA.
As the 20th century nears its end, many Americans have been contemplating the successes and shortcomings of the country’s agriculture. They have found much to be proud of, but they have also raised some nagging questions.
The successes of American agriculture are easy to see – and many farmers are quick to boast of them. In parts of the Midwest, signs along major highways remind motorists that “one farmer feeds 75 people.” Thanks to nature’s bounty and to the effective use of machines, fertilizers and chemicals, American farmers are virtually unrivaled in producing crops cheaply and in quantity. The United States produces as much as half of the world’s soybeans and corn for grain, and from 10 to 25 percent of its cotton, wheat, tobacco and vegetable oils.
American agriculture is, by any standards, big business. Indeed, the term “agribusiness” has been coined to reflect the large-scale nature of agricultural enterprise in the modern US economy. The term covers the entire complex of farm-related businesses, from the individual farmer to the multinational maker of farm chemicals. Agribusiness includes farmer cooperatives, rural banks, shippers of farm products, commodity dealers, firms that manufacture farm equipment, food-processing industries, grocery chains and many other businesses.
Both American and foreign consumers benefit from the American farmer’s low-cost output. American consumers pay less for their food than the people of many other industrial countries. Moreover, one-third of the cropland in the United States is planted in crops destined for export – to Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Agricultural exports were 35.6 thousand million in 1989.
Agricultural imports lag far behind, leaving a surplus in the agricultural balance of trade.
The standard of living of American farmers is generally high. Incomes of farm families average about three-quarters of those nonfarm families, but because farm families’ living expenses are lower, their standard of living is close to the national average. Although farm living once meant isolation from comforts life, this is no longer the case.
The readiness of many farmers to adopt new technology has been one of the strengths of American agriculture. Computers are but the latest in a long line of innovations that have helped American farmers to cut costs and improve productivity. Yet farmers have been traditionalists as well as innovators. They preserve a deep conservatism and respect for tradition that has helped to lend stability to rural communities in times of rapid change.
However, American agriculture has a dark side as well as a bright side. Farmers in the United States go through alternating periods of prosperity and recession and some farm practices have raised environmental and other concerns.
While the high productivity of American agriculture has kept food prices low for consumers, farmers have been perhaps too successful. Crop surpluses and low prices have made it hard for many farmers to make a profit. The cost of the products farmers buy –tractors, fertilizers, pesticides – has risen faster than the prices they receive for their crops. High interest rates have added to the farmer’s burden. A period of economic difficulty began and agricultural exports declined, partly due to the high value of the United States dollar. Crop prices fell and interest rates rose. Many farmers found themselves hard-pressed to keep up payments on loans and mortgages taken earlier when prices were higher. Some farmers lost their farms and equipment, which were sold off to satisfy the farmers’ debts. In dozens of farm communities, the crisis caused the closing of banks, farmer cooperatives and small businesses. A variety of governmental and private programs helped to ease the suffering, but many farmers wondered whether the good times had finally come to an end.
Many farm owners –especially owners of smaller farms – do not work on the farms full-time. Forty-five percent of the people we call farmers actually have other occupations. And not all farmers own their land. Some 240,000 are tenant farmers-who either rent their land for cash or pay the owner a share of the crops they grow. On large farms, many of the workers are hired only for a specific chore-such as picking crops. Many of these seasonal workers travel from farm to farm, staying only until the crops are picked. They are known as migrant workers. Some are housed under poor conditions, have inadequate health care, and are paid low wages. In recent years, there has been an effort on the part of government and others to improve the lives of these workers.
As they face the future, American farmers can be sure of only one thing-that more changes lie ahead. Ambitious programs of research and development now going on in university, corporate and government laboratories promise to continue the trends of recent years. Though responding to innovation and evolving with the passage of time, agriculture remains the foundation upon which American well-being and prosperity are based. This bond linking past, present and future is fundamental to the American way of life.
Role-play
Work on groups of three. The first group is the representatives of Kazakhstan. The second group is the representatives of Great Britain. And the third group is the representatives of the USA. Your issue to discuss is the future of agriculture in these countries. In what ways the agricultural sector in Kazakhstan differs from that in GB and the USA? Discuss with your partner.
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