Taking Stock of Agriculture

Taking Stock of Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. With Thanksgiving just past it gave me a chance to sit and think of the wonderful food we had on our table. Besides the parades and the football games we spend our day with family and enjoy a delicious feast. And of course if it wasn't for our nation's farmers that feast would just not be. While I don't consider myself a farmer both my wife's and my grandparents were cattle farmers. Both our first jobs were on a farm. My wife spent her summers detassling corn while I drove a tractor to cut and rake alfalfa then worked in the grain elevator unloading wheat trucks at harvest. We owe our heritage to the farming community. So as I was finishing off a helping of apple tart made with fresh Washington State apples I thought it would be fun to look at some of the facts regarding agriculture. Here's Lacy Gray with more. GRAY: Speaking of those apples, Washington State does produce more apples than any other state. Americans eat about 125 pounds of potatoes a year, about half from fresh potatoes and half in processed foods. And of course most of those potatoes are grown in Idaho. Did you know that it takes a combine 9 seconds to harvest enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread? And while the Midwest states are the largest wheat producers, Washington and Idaho rank in the top 10. Americans are eating about 14 pounds of turkey a piece each year, more than double the rate 20 years ago. While most commodities were sold via wholesale channels, some were sold directly to individuals. In 2007, there were 136,817 farms that sold agricultural products directly for human consumption, up 17.2 percent from 2002. Farmers and ranchers provide food and habitat for 75% of the nation's wildlife which also drives the sport hunting business here in the U.S. Products we use in our everyday lives come from plant and animal byproducts produced by America's farmers and ranchers including health care, construction, transportation, manufacturing, personal care products and education all benefit from agriculture. Thanks Lacy. Agriculture sure takes a beating from many different fronts but the bottom line is, without it we simply would not be able to exist. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.