March 20, 2019

Food Production

There are around 2.2 million farms in the United States.

In 1940, the average farmer grew enough food for 19 other people. In 2006, the average American farmer grew enough food for 144 other people.

Farmers today produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (such as seeds, labor, fertilizers) than they did in 1950.

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Today's Random Fact:

Livestock farming feeds billions of people and employs 1.3 billion people. That means about 1 in 5 people on Earth work in some aspect of the livestock farming.

For every $1 spent on food, farmers get less than 12 cents for the raw product.

Bonus Fact:

According to the UN, an ever increasing world population, intensive farming practices, and changes in climate have provided a breeding ground for an unprecedented number of emerging diseases. Poultry farming, for example, may account for the global spread of bird flu. In fact, the majority of the 39 new diseases that have emerged in just one generation have come from animals, including Ebola, SARS, and the bird flu.

The world population will jump from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. Farmers will need to double food production by then to keep pace.