About 50% of the acres harvested in the U.S. in 2007 were planted in corn and soy. Another 36% of the acres harvested were planted in wheat and hay. Veggies made up only 1.5% of the harvested acres in the U.S.; orchard crops (fruit and tree nuts) made up 1.6%. So who's growing all this fucking corn? Are small farmers equally as guilty as the biggest farms out there? Take a look:
| Farm Size | % of Sales($) From Corn | % of Sales($) from Wheat | % of Sales($) from Soy |
| 1-9 acres | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| 10-49 acres | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
| 50-69 acres | 1.5% | 0.2% | 0.9% |
| 70-99 acres | 3.0% | 0.3% | 1.7% |
| 100-139 acres | 3.9% | 0.4% | 2.3% |
| 140-179 acres | 5.2% | 0.8% | 3.5% |
| 180-219 acres | 6.2% | 0.7% | 3.7% |
| 220-259 acres | 7.4% | 0.8% | 4.4% |
| 260-499 acres | 10.9% | 1.3% | 6.1% |
| 500-999 acres | 16.2% | 2.0% | 8.8% |
| 1000-1999 acres | 21.1% | 4.0% | 11.2% |
| 2000+ acres | 18.2% | 8.6% | 8.0% |
| All Farms | 13.4% | 3.6 | 6.8% |
Because this table is measured in sales dollars as a percent of all sales dollars, you can't tell how many acres were planted of each crop. You CAN tell whose business is more reliant on corn, wheat, and soy though. And that's obvious: the bigger you are, the more likely you are to grow corn, wheat, and soy. |
There are two factors that can help you transform sales dollars into acres: how many dollars per bushel or pound of a crop, and how many bushels or pounds per acre? The USDA features some handy data about corn, wheat, and soy prices in 2007. According to that site, the average corn price in 2007 was $3.40/bu. Here's another interesting tidbit from the site:
Field corn is the predominant corn type grown in the U.S., and it is primarily used for animal feed. Currently, less than 10 percent of the U.S. field corn crop is used for direct domestic human consumption in corn-based foods such as corn meal, corn starch, and corn flakes, while the remainder is used for animal feed, exports, ethanol production, seed, and industrial uses. Sweet corn, both white and yellow, is usually consumed as immature whole-kernel corn by humans and also as an ingredient in other corn-based foods, but makes up only about 1 percent of total U.S. corn production.
The USDA site also says that 4.1% of U.S. corn goes for high fructose corn syrup. That means that since 29.9% of all U.S. cropland harvested was planted in corn in 2007, 1.2% of all U.S. cropland harvested in 2007 went for high fructose corn syrup. That's only slightly less than the 1.5% of U.S. cropland devoted to vegetables or the 1.6% of U.S. cropland devoted to orchards. How totally and completely sad.
For corn in 2007, the U.S. averaged 151.1 bu/acre. Therefore, $1000 in corn sales translates to 294 bushels, or 1.95 acres.
For wheat, in 2007, the U.S. averaged 40.2 bu/acre and the average price was $4.26/bu. Therefore, $1000 of sales of wheat represents 234.7 bushels or 5.84 acres.
As for soy, in 2007, the price was $10.40 per bushel. In 2006, the U.S. averaged 41.7 bushels of soy per acre. In other words, $1000 of soy sales translates to 96.2 bushels, or 2.31 acres.
In other words, we look at the sales numbers and translate them into acreage (on average) to find out how what percent of acreage went to each crop.
My numbers might not be exact but they are pretty darn close. Here's what I got:
| Farm Size | % of Acres in Corn | % of Acres in Wheat | % of Acres in Soy |
| 1-9 acres | 10.4% | 0.8% | 7.1% |
| 10-49 acres | 7.3% | 2.1% | 5.2% |
| 50-69 acres | 8.8% | 3.2% | 6.5% |
| 70-99 acres | 12.8% | 4.0% | 8.7% |
| 100-139 acres | 13.8% | 4.4% | 9.5% |
| 140-179 acres | 17.5% | 6.6% | 12.0% |
| 180-219 acres | 17.6% | 5.7% | 12.5% |
| 220-259 acres | 19.9% | 6.3% | 13.9% |
| 260-499 acres | 24.3% | 8.4% | 16.2% |
| 500-999 acres | 30.3% | 11.4% | 19.6% |
| 1000-1999 acres | 30.7% | 17.4% | 19.3% |
| 2000+ acres | 23.0% | 32.4% | 12.0% |
| All Farms | 25.1% | 20.0% | 15.1% |
And what about fruits and veggies?
Fruits & Tree Nuts (% of Sales $)
1-9 acres: 4.1%
10-49 acres: 7.4%
50-69 acres: 7.8%
70-99 acres: 7.4%
100-139 acres: 8.2%
140-179 acres: 8.5%
180-219 acres: 7.7%
220-259 acres: 8.4%
260-499 acres: 7.0%
500-999 acres: 5.4%
1000-1999 acres: 4.5%
2000+ acres: 6.4%
Avg for all sizes: 6.3%
Veggies and Melons (% of Sales $)
1-9 acres: 1.9%
10-49 acres: 1.9%
50-69 acres: 1.8%
70-99 acres: 2.0%
100-139 acres: 2.2%
140-179 acres: 1.8%
180-219 acres: 2.2%
220-259 acres: 2.4%
260-499 acres: 2.8%
500-999 acres: 3.9%
1000-1999 acres: 5.8%
2000+ acres: 9.0%
Avg for all sizes: 4.9% |
