The total land area of the US is around 2.3 billion acres (9.2 million sq km) (almost 40 times larger than the United Kingdom). Of this, 1.7 billion acres are used for agriculture (arable, forestry, permanent crops, permanent pastureland). The agricultural land accounts for 74% of the total area of land in the US, which is a similar proportion to that in the UK. Forestry covers almost 40% of the agricultural area. Graph 1 shows US agricultural land use.

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^{Source: USDA}

The geographic spread of farm production across the US is shown on Map 1. As would be expected, these regions do not follow state boundaries, although there are concentrations of farming types within the states.

24% of the agricultural area is used for crops of which corn (maize for grain), soybeans and wheat are most significant, accounting for 21%, 19% and 11% respectively of the total cropland. Corn is the most widely produced feed grain in the US, with most of the crop providing the main energy ingredient in livestock feed. Corn is also processed into a wide range of food and industrial products including fuel ethanol. Over 60% of total cropland is located in three areas, namely Heartland, Northern Great Plains and Prairie Gateway (Map 1).

The grassland is grazed by 9.3 million dairy cows plus followers with an average herd size of just over 115 cows, although the majority (74%) of US dairy farms have less than 100 cows. Farms with more than 100 cows produce 85% of the milk. US milk production is concentrated in the Northern Crescent and in California.

The beef industry is substantial with 95 million breeding beef cattle plus followers. However, almost half of these cows are concentrated in herds of over 1,000 head. Although cattle are widespread (Map 1), beef production is mainly in Texas, Iowa, California, Florida, Nebraska and Kansas. The USA sheep flock is very small with just 5.5 million breeding sheep compared with 15.6 million in the UK.

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^{Source: USDA}

Productive agriculture

Although soil quality varies across the USA, and is reflected in farmland values (see Variation in Farmland Values), the continent does have some of the most fertile soils for cropping in the world. Land is classified into ‘Land Capability Classes’ which rate land from one to eight on agronomic factors which include landscape, slope, depth and texture of soil. Under good management, Classes 1 to 4 are able to support the main field crops including grass without a reduction in the soil’s long term productivity. Classes 5 to 8 have limited use for commercial farming and are mainly pasture, range and forestland. These do often provide environmental and leisure opportunities.

The US generally has favourable climates for productive agriculture and water availability is good. This is either from natural sources or large scale irrigation systems. However, future water security is high on the policy agenda to ensure the long term growth of the agricultural industry. Managing climate change risk has become the most pertinent issue for worldwide agriculture in recent decades and has encouraged research and development into better management and implementation of technology to mitigate climatic risk. The US is at the forefront of government research into agriculture and a privatised industry dedicated to research and development: this helps provide more streamlined results and motivation to continue improving efficiency across agricultural markets.

In many respects, the agricultural sector in the US is unique with market characteristics that are not typical or as pronounced as some other major developed world exporters. For example, 60% of the total value of US agricultural production comes from just three regions which are very output specific with highly intensified production. These are the Heartland, the Fruitful Rim and the Northern Crescent.

Key facts

■ The US has more arable land within its borders than any other nation on earth at around 160 million hectares just above that of India.

■ As in many areas the trend is for fewer farms and higher levels of aggregation producing an increasing share of the agricultural output.

■ The US is the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn, wheat, soybeans and livestock in both volume and income.

■ Grains and oilseeds represent a third of the total agricultural sales in the US.

■ The US has always maintained an export surplus over imports.

■ The US accounts for a quarter of total world GDP from agricultural products. Only surpassed by the entire market of Europe (30%).

■ In states where ownership is unrestricted absentee land owners account for 60% of land ownership and these tend to specialise in crop production.

■ Whereas livestock production tends be structured in an owner operator set up.