Here are a 10 interesting facts about Modern Agriculture and Food

1. 1. Today’s corn crop is mainly used for biofuels (roughly 40 percent of U.S. corn is used for ethanol) and as animal feed (roughly 36 percent of U.S. corn, plus distillers grains left over from ethanol production, is fed to cattle, pigs and chickens). Much of the rest is exported. Only a tiny fraction of the national corn crop is directly used for food for Americans, much of that for high-fructose corn syrup. … the corn crop is highly productive, but the corn system is aligned to feed cars and animals instead of feeding people.  [It’s Time to Rethink America’s Corn System | Scientific American]
   2. The United States was the largest producer of corn with a production volume amounting to about 345.89 million metric tons. China and Brazil rounded off the top corn producing countries. – [Corn Production by country 2018/19 | Statista] 
      
      
   3. The United States was the leading global producer of soybeans with a production volume of 120.52 million metric tons in 2018/2019. As of May 2020, Brazil overtook the United States as the leading soybean producing country with a production volume of some 124 million metric tons in 2019/20. [ Production of soybeans in leading countries worldwide | Statista]  
   4. The average farm size for 2016 is 442 acres, up 1 acre from the previous year (2017). The number of farms in the U.S. for 2016 is estimated at 2.06 million, down 8,000 farms from 2015, according to USDA data released today. Total land in farms, at 911 million acres, decreased 1 million acres from 2015. [Number of Farms in U.S. Drops as Acreage Size Grows | Agriculture] 
   5. Farming accounts for about 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product. (FB.org)  The federal government spends more than $20 billion a year on subsidies for farm businesses. About 39 percent of the nation’s 2.1 million farms receive subsidies, with the lion’s share of the handouts going to the largest producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice. [Agricultural Subsidies | Downsizing the Federal Government] 
   6. The world consumed 129.5 billion pounds of beef in 2016. Uruguay consumed the most beef per capita in the world in 2016 followed by Argentina and Hong Kong.  (World Beef Consumption Per Capita Ranking of Countries)
   7. Americans are set to eat more meat in 2018 than ever before. According to data published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), consumers are expected to eat 222.2 pounds (100.8 kilo) of red meat and poultry this year, up from 216.9 pounds per person in 2017. [ Americans will consume a record amount of meat in 2018 | globalagriculture.org ]  
   8. Most Antibiotics In The World Go Straight Into Your Meat – In 2011, more than 80 percent of antibiotics produced were fed to livestock. Although some of these drugs were necessary to keep animals healthy in conditions that would otherwise make them sick, like living on top of one another’s waste, most of it was specifically administered to artificially increase rapid growth. [9 Facts About Factory Farming That Will Break Your Heart | huffpost.com] 
   9. Even today, agriculture is an important source of income and the world’s largest business. One-third of the economically active population obtains its livelihood from agriculture. Approximately 3.4 billion people – or 45% of the world’s population – live in rural areas. Roughly 2 billion people (26.7% of the world population) derive their livelihoods from agriculture. (Industrial Agriculture and Small-scale Farming | globalagriculture.org)
   10. Industrial agriculture has had great success in producing abundant, low-cost food. World hunger has been declining for decades, and food production per capita has increased sharply since the 1960s. But this success has come with costs that raise questions about the sustainability and the unintended effects of the global “rationalization” of food production. [An Evolutionary Perspective on Industrial and Sustainable Agriculture]

Note: The above facts and figures are quote from sources that are hyperlinked

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