food production

Agri View: Farm Production

Dan Agri View

farm production
Everett Griner talks about centuries of production growth in today’s Agri View.

Farm Production

Well farming has long been America’s largest industry the number of farmers has steadily declined since the 1700’s. Let me throw you a couple of examples. In 1790 the total U.S. population was just under 4 million people. Farmers made up about 90 percent of the total labor force. Alright a hundred years later. 1890 population total was just under 63 million. Farmers were then about 43 percent of the labor force. Finally let’s go to 1990. Total population 246 million. Farmers in the work force has fallen to less than 4 percent. It was during the last accounting period that foreigners began buying up significant farmland but it did not reflect on the effective work force in America. All these numbers add up to one important significance. How much one farmer’s production has increased.

That’s Agri View for today. I’m Everett Griner