WEEK 1 Flashcards
True or False: the value added to the US GDP by agriculture and related industries by FarmGate is approximately 120$ billion (0.6%) of total gdp in a food sector valued at $1.2 trillion
False: farm Gate is approx 175$ billion which is 0.7% of total GDP in a food sector valued at $1.2 trillion
True or False: farm level employment is 2.3 million jobs which is about 1.8% of the total national workforce
True or false: the largest sector of employment is food services earing and drinking places (if true, what percentage of US employment and how many jobs
False: farm level employment is 2.6 million jobs which is about 1.3% of total national workforce
True: 5.9% of US employment is food services, earing and drinking places * and there are about 11.8 million jobs in it
Describe the farm size and contributions to total production
There are small, midsize, large-scale, and non-family farm sizes
so small farms have the highest share of farms (88.1)
but largescale farms have pretty low share (3.4) but the highest share of production at 51.8
takeaway is that larger farms tend to bring more production
non family farms have low share of production and are also low in no.
What are the key (which are also interrelated) factors influencing food production? There are 6 name them all
- Geography
- Farm Size
- Input availability and use
- Production methods
- Technology adoptoon
- Farm policy
Grandma finds some interesting pineapples, makes treats fun!
Geography
True or False: the northeast is not that important for a range of agricultural crops
False: the northeast is very important for a range of agricultural crops including:
* wild blueberries (maine)
* tame blueberries
* apples
* cranberries
* cabbage
* spinach
* snap beans
* peaches
* cherries, tart
* bell peppers
etc.
True or False: retailers have the highest percentage of local food sales
True or false: 23% food sales occur directly to consumers
False: intermediate markets and insititutions (processors, wholesalers, schools, hospitals, food hubs, and colleges and universities) have the highest local food sales (39%)
False: 34% occur directly to consumers
Of the 34% local food sales directly to consumers, what is the biggest and smallest market fot direct to consumer sales?
Largest: on site farm stores or stands (15%)
smallest: community supported agriculture programs, online, off site stores or roadside stands (each 2%)
Farm Size
Which country tends to have large farm sizes and which has low
Australia, South America, even North america to an extent have large farm sizes (>200 Ha)
China, East Asia Pacific, some what of south east asia have small farm sizes
Production methods:
True or False: Organic is one of the most highly regulated food labels in the US
True: Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge,
irradiation, and GE technologies are
not allowed if a product has been
labelled as USDA Organic
The National Organic Program is
administered by the AMS of the
USDA with compliance and
enforcement responsibilities
Oversee 80 certifying agents (third
-party certifiers) and 28,000
organic operations in the United
States and in foreign markets
Input Use in agriculture (with substitution b/w inputs changing overtime
Whart are the different inputs used in agriculture
- Water
- Pesticides
- Land
- Labor
- Machinory/Equipment
so basically land labor machinpru + pesticides and water since this is ag class
Input use
Water Use in US Agriculture
corn for grain has highest irrigated acres harvested
soybeans have been increasing pretty dramatically
cotton has been pretty stagnant along with hay and alfalfa; orchards have gentle increase
How does climate change affect input use
adaptation vs mitigation vs migration
Climate change is affecting both the demand and supply of agricultural crops
it is also affecting the technologies (and as a result the market for inpits) used to produce agricultural crops
adaptation: we are starting to see plant breeding programs** focus on new cultivars that specifically target improvements in resistance to heat stress and drought tolerance **
mitigationincrease in regulations that aim to reduce climate changing activities
migrationproducers moving to adjust
TL;DR: plant breeding programs focus on new cultuvats targetting heat stress and drought tolerance
Input use
Pesticide use (lbs active ingredient in US agrivulture)
pesticides is an umbrella term for fungicides, herbicides (most used), insecticides
corn has greatest pesticide usage (39.5%) soybeans also have a lot, potatoews and cotton fall behind that.
minor use problem emerges because if there is not that many buyers of smaller crops so there is not that much incentive for big biotch and big companies to produce more efficient pesticides
Labor use
True or False: labor costs as a share of total gross cash farm income for dairy and all farms is lower than that of fruit and tree nut, vegetable and melon, nurseru and greenhouse
True: fruit and tree nut; nursery and greenhouse; vegetable and melon have higher labor costs than dairy farms
Technology use
What are the uses pf technology and what effect do they have on the market?
- Cost saving (yield improving)
* decrease in per unit costs
* overall improvement in efficiency
* cause a rightward shift in the supply - Quality enhancing (demand)
* increase in per unit quality
* rightward shift in the demand
* may also involve increase in costs (increase in supply)
both have positive spillover effects in the industry
