Mullins Farms In Valley Springs

National Agriculture Week is devoted to increasing the public’s awareness and knowledge of America’s agriculture. Across the country, agricultural associations, corporations, producers, government agencies, universities, and countless others join together each year over the courts of the week surrounding National Agriculture Day, which falls on March 8th, to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture.

On the surface, agriculture may seem like a bunch of dirt and seeds, but it’s more than that; so much more!

The National Ag Day program, part of National Agriculture Week, believes that every American should:

– appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products
– understand how food, fiber and renewable resource products are produced.
– value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
– acknowledge and consider career opportunities in the agriculture, food, fiber and renewable resource industries.

National Agriculture Week is the perfect time to honor the history of American agriculture and its contribution to the world, as well as learn about future goals of the industry. As the world population grows and grows, there is an even greater need for fibers and food produced in the United States; making understanding the agricultural process and all that is can do for us it more important than ever.

U.S. Farm Facts (courtesy of www.AmericasFarmers.com):

– Today’s farmer grows twice as much food as his parents did – using less land, energy, water and fewer emissions.

– Today, the average U.S. farmer feeds 155 people. In 1960, a farmer fed just 26 people.

– To keep up with population growth more food will have to be produced in the next 50 years as the past 10,000 years combined.

– U.S. farmers produce about 40 percent of the world’s corn, using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world.

– According to the USDA, one acre of corn… removes about 8 tons of carbon dioxide from the air in a growing season…at 180 bushels per acre produces enough oxygen to supply a year’s needs for 131 people.

– American farmers ship more than $100 billion of their crops and products to many nations.

– Farmers are a direct lifeline to more than 23 million U.S. jobs in all kinds of industries.

– In the past five years, U.S. farm operators have become more demographically diverse.

– The 2007 census counted nearly 30 percent more women as principal farm operators. The count of Hispanic operators grew by 10 percent, and the counts of American Indian, Asian and African-American farm operators increased as well.

Happy National Agriculture Week! How are you celebrating?