Agricultural Production in the United States
The past Fifty Years and the Next
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4488430 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chauncy D Harris (0009-0009-1172-0373, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1957 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 175 |
| Publication date | 1957-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geographical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/211590 |
| OpenAlex | W2331987773 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
A MERICAN agriculture has been going through a spectacular revolution. During the first half of the twentieth century the net agricultural production' of the United States doubled (Fig. 1). Although population also doubled, American farms were able to provide both an increased per capita food supply and an improvement in the quality of the diet. For example, in the period 1gog-1952 per capita consumption of all fruits and vegetables rose by a third, of citrus fruits alone by four times, of eggs by a half, and of dairy products (exclusive of butter) by a third.2 The per capita consumption of meat was maintained, though a decline had earlier been predicted because of expected increase in population pressure on resources. Increased production was not based primarily on an expansion of the total land cultivated or on the use of more labor. On the contrary, the harvested acreage has decreased during the last 30 years, when the increase in production has been most rapid. The agricultural labor force decreased by one-third in the first half of the century. Farm output per hour of human labor has doubled since 1937. In spite of the enormous increase in production in the last half century and certain current farm surpluses, the thoughtful person may well reflect on the present high rates of population increase and ask whether American farms can feed an additional so million mouths by 1975 or possibly a hundred
Agricultural economics · Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economic history · Economics · Geography · Political science · Production (economics · Agricultural Economics and Policy · History
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1962 - 2020 (59) |
| Highly cited | No |