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A barn and silo under a blue sky.
Agriculture
  1. Farm efficiency in the United States
  2. Who Farms in the United States?
  3. Growth of Large Corporate Farming
  4. Minorities as Farm Operators
  5. Agricultural Subsidies
  6. Food for Peace Program
  7. Major Crops in the United States
  8. Major U.S. Crops: Corn
  9. Major U.S. Crops: Soybeans
  10. Major U.S. Crops: Wheat
  11. Major U.S. Crops: Cotton
  12. Planting and Harvesting Cotton
  13. Major U.S. Crops: Rice
  14. How Rice Is Grown in the United States
  15. Dairy Farming in the United States
  16. Cheese Production in the United States
  17. Poultry and Meat Production in the United States
  18. Raising Cattle for Beef
  19. Factory Farming
  20. Farm Mechanization in the United States
  21. Biotechnology and Farming in the United States
  22. Organic Farming in the United States
  23. Farm Aid
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A worker wears a gas mask while pouring chemicals.
A worker pours pesticide to be used in spraying plants.
Photo Courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture. Photo by Tim McCabe.
Farm efficiency in the United States
Farming in America has undergone vast changes since 1950. Perhaps the biggest change in farming has been in efficiency. Scientific and technological breakthroughs have made American farms some of the most productive in the world. Increasing mechanization, the widespread use of pesticides and fertilizers, emphasis on soil management, and industrial farming have made record crop production possible at the same time that the number of farmers has steadily decreased. In the United States, farm production has become more concentrated so that a small number of farmers are responsible for farming huge areas of cultivated land. The number of farms has also decreased as many small farms were bought out and consolidated by larger corporate farming operations. Click on CHARTS, below, for additional information about farms in the United States.
Special Terms: industrial farming  |  corporate farming operations

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