FARM FACTS - FYI

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     This page is dedicated to all the "true red blooded, hard working, loyal, and dedicated"

    AMERICAN FARMERS! 

     In today's modern world the urban sprawl is "eating up" our precious farm ground at a rate of 9 acres per hour (in Ohio), while the number of farmers is on the decline.  (98,000 family farms in 1976 vs. 72,000 family farms in 1996 in Ohio)   The increase in our world's population is on the increase, requiring more food  to feed the world!  

We need all the support from our farmers, farm organizations, businesses, politicians, & public education about farming that we can get. (The major segment of the population does not understand from where their food comes)    Agriculture is critical to our future!  It is the #1 industry in Ohio---generating $67 billion to the economy annually to Ohio.

This page is dedicated to farmers all across this great country, to try and help give the true facts and figures that today's agriculture is facing.  It is useful to the young, the old ,  the school age children,   the Urban people that live across this great country.   Below are facts about farming, and check out these links to various farm organizations.

The following is taken from the PROGRESSIVE FARMER Magazine a column written by Editor Jack Odle.  After reading it, I was convinced more than ever, that farm life is "quite simply-the best."  I think you will agree.

EVERYTHING I REALLY NEEDED TO KNOW, I LEARNED GROWING UP ON A FARM

• Honesty. I learned it is better to point out that lame heifer to a buyer rather than wait for the buyer to find her in the herd-or worse, not find her.

• Charity. I learned the importance of giving to those in their hour of need.  It could be taking a casserole to someone's home after a funeral or combing the wheat field of a farmer who has been injured.

• Life and Death. I've seen calves, lambs, pigs, puppies, and kittens born, often right before my eyes.  But I also witnessed death and the harshness of nature before I was three years old.

• Compassion. I've seen my Dad get off his tractor to move a bird's nest out of the way so he could cultivate the field.

• Faith. I've watched the planting of tiny seed and had the assurance that they would sprout and make a good crop.   I've watched a newborn calf struggle to its feet and understood this fragile animal would grow into a productive cow.

• Work Ethic. I remember looking out at a field full of hay bales and wondering if we would ever get them unloaded and hauled into the barn.  I came to realize that if you work steadily and stick to it those bales will slowly disappear from the field.

• Patience. I know everything happens according to nature's schedule.  We can't speed it up or slow it down; we can only work within its constraints.

Yes, just about everything O know worth knowing I learned and continue to learn from farm families and farm life.  I bet a lot of you feel that way too.

FARM FACTS

Pesticides, Herbicides, etc.

• Americans enjoy the safest, most abundant, lowest costing food supply of any nation in the world.  many consumers still question the value and need for herbicides and insecticides,  even though they are an integral part of modern farming practices.

• A study from the Hudson Institute in May 1995 estimated that some crop yields could suffer up to 50% loss without crop protection products.

• United States farmers face the threat of approximately 10,000 species of crop destroying insects, 1,800 kinds of weeds and 1,500 different plant diseases.  Pesticides have been an integral part of American farming for nearly 50 years and are heavily regulated by the government. Taken from (NAPS)

SOIL

• All life on earth depends on the soil.   Plants rooted in the soil obtain nutrients from it.  Animals get nutrients from the plants or from animals that eat plants.  In addition to providing the world with food and fiber, American farmers maintain the soil which is so important to us.

• Healthy soil harbors a host of microorganisms that perform an array of functions that sustain life.  Soil buffers foreign substances our industrial society releases into our environment. 

• Soil begins to form when environmental forces break down rocks and similar materials that lie on or near the earth's surface.   As plants and other materials decay they become part of the soil. 

• According to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, it takes, on average, about 500 years to form one inch of soil. 

CORN

• About 10% of all gasoline sold in the US is blended with 10% ethanol made from corn. 

• Products made from corn are playing an important role in maintaining motor vehicles.  Windshield washer fluid made from ethanol is freeze proof and removes road grim.  An absorbent material made from cornstalks is providing an environmentally safe method for cleaning up oil spills.

• Corn is America's largest cash crop wit h an annual harvest of nearly 9 billion bushels, with it being the primary energy source for livestock.

BEANS

• First grown for food and animal feed in Asia more than 2.000 years ago, soybeans are approaching their third millennium as a source of products for better health and a cleaner environment.

• 381,000 farmers in 31 states produce 2 billion bushels of soybeans annually.  Each bushel yields 11 pounds of soy oil and 48 pounds of high protein meal. 

• Nearly cholesterol free soybeans oil contains 8 amino acids.  85% of all margarine is derived from soybean oil.  It is also used for salad dressing, mayonnaise and vegetable oil.

• Soybean oil is contributing to a cleaner environment.  Biodiesel fuel made with soybean oil can blended with regular diesel fuel to power buses, trucks, and farm vehicles. 

• Newspapers publishers and 25% of all commercial printers in the U.S. use ink that contains soybean oil for color printing.

*All the above facts were taken from newspaper articles from The Findlay Courier (NAPS)

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