15 Fantastic Food and Farm Facts (2024)

FAQs

What are farm facts for kids? ›

On average, one U.S. farm feeds 166 people annually in the U.S. and abroad. The global population is expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, which means the world's farmers will have to grow about 70% more food than what is now produced.

Each American farmer produces food and fiber for 165 people annually, both in the U.S. and abroad. Eight percent of U.S. farms market foods locally through farmers' markets and food hubs. One day's production for a high-producing dairy cow yields 10.5 pounds of cheese. Women make up 30 percent of today's farmers.

Agriculture impacts society in many ways, including: supporting livelihoods through food, habitat, and jobs; providing raw materials for food and other products; and building strong economies through trade.

In general, farm work for adults is thought to provide exercise, fresh air, opportunities for problem solving, appreciation for land and animals, and satisfaction in one's work.

Those who run small farms or ranges may do all tasks, including harvesting and inspecting the land, growing crops, and raising animals. In addition, they keep records, service machinery, and maintain buildings.

It plays a vital role in the growth of the economy of any country and its development. Since agriculture is considered to be a provider of food, human existence depends directly on it. Importance of Agriculture can be realized by the fact that the economy of many countries in the world depends solely on agriculture.

The short explanation is that a working farm is a place (or area of land) that produces food, animals, and products from animals for people's use. The more extended version is that a farm is land used for agriculture production, including farms to produce food for human consumption.

The average age of all U.S. farm producers in 2022 was 58.1 years, up 0.6 years from 2017, continuing a long-term trend of aging in the U.S. producer population. Producers also tend to be experienced; they have been farming an average of 23.4 years.

What are 3 of the most important food crops in the world? ›

The three most important food crops in the world are rice, wheat, and maize (corn). The three cereal grains directly contribute more than half of all calories consumed by human beings.

One of its reports states that “small-scale farmers produce over 70% of the world's food needs.”³ In other reports it has said that smallholder and family farms (which raises issues of how these terms are defined) produce 70-80% of the world's food.

In the most recent survey, there were 1.89 million U.S. farms in 2023, down 7 percent from the 2.04 million found in the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Similarly, acres of land in farms continued a downward trend with 879 million acres in 2023, down from 900 million acres in 2017.

U.S. farmers have planted 91.7 million acres of corn in 2019, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That's about 69 million football fields of corn and 3 percent more corn than last year, far more acres than the next largest crop, soybeans.

Hunter-gatherer cultures forage or hunt food from their environment. Often nomadic, this was the only way of life for humans until about 12,000 years ago when archaeologic studies show evidence of the emergence of agriculture.

Agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.530 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, a 5.6-percent share. The output of America's farms contributed $203.5 billion of this sum—about 0.7 percent of U.S. GDP.