2007 Ag Census: Who Grows All The Fucking Corn?

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 00:36:53 AM PST

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.

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%