Agribusiness and Geography in the United States
Memorial Day is a federal and national holiday in the United States commemorating those who died while serving in the country’s armed forces and is observed on the last Monday of the month of May. In honor of Memorial Day, this article will explore the economy of the United States and its agricultural industry.
Agribusiness and Geography in the United States
The United States occupies a large part of the North American continent and spans from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. The country has a total territory of almost 10 million square kilometers and a coastline of approximately 20.000 kilometers, which is about the same size as Canada. Geographically, the United States has a variety of regions and climates from tropical to arctic and from mountainous to large plains. Currently, the total population is some 325 million citizens, of which more than 80% live in an urban setting, notably the capital Washington DC, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, amongst others. The US annual gross domestic product (GDP) is of approximately 18.5 trillion and the national economy has experienced positive growth upwards of 1.5 % in recent years. The national economy is divided into 1% agriculture, 19% manufacturing, and 80% services. Likewise, the agricultural industry employs 1% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs about 20% and services employ another 79%. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes some 45% of the national territory, while another 33% is forested.
In terms of natural resources, the United States has coal, copper, lead, phosphates, uranium, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber, and arable land. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on cutting-edge technology products, petroleum refining, steel processing, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, and mining. Similarly, the United States is a major tourist destination and services provider. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products wheat, corn, grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton, beef, pork, poultry, dairy products, fish, and forest products, such as lumber. In terms of trade, the United States has free trade agreements with twenty countries throughout the world. Currently, the main trade partners of the United States are Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and the European Union.
In recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin in the United States has been 71 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers supply about 25% of the average food energy intake in the country. Simultaneously, land distribution and output in the United States has evolved throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, permanent pastures and meadows in the country covered 265 million hectares, while arable land covered over 180 million hectares and permanent crops accounted for almost 2 million hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows had decreased to little over 250 million hectares, while arable land represented almost 155 million hectares and permanent crops covered some 2.6 million hectares. Finally, in 2014, the United States devoted almost 58 million hectares of land to cereals production and yielded over 440 million metric tons.