The USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has just released The Changing Organization of U.S. Farming, a report that shows farmers and ranchers are on their way to accomplishing the greatest challenge of this century – sustainably meeting the food demand of the future.
In a world where the population just passed the seven-billion mark, and projections show a need to double food production by 2050 while using fewer natural resources, the ERS report documents a production increase of nearly 50 percent since 1982, while US farmland decreased by 70 million acres. The report also shows a reduction in pesticide use and reflects significant technological innovation.
These achievements come from the bedrock of agriculture, the more than 98 percent of American farms that are family-owned. That’s very important as we move further into our future. America’s family farmers take pride in feeding families around the world.
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