Issues Associated with Commercial Agriculture in the United States

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Issues Associated with Commercial Agriculture in
the United States

• David Jordan
• Department of Crop Science
• North Carolina State University

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Considerations Farmers HaveAbility to Produce
and Sell Commodities

• Climate
• Soil resources
• Urbanization
• Markets
• Production costs
• Cash flow
• Regulatory issues
• Labor pool
• Farm programs (Farm Service Agency)
• Diminished voice at local, state, and national
  levels

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Climate

• Rainfall amount, duration and consistency
• Temperature (average and extremes) and heat unit
  accumulation
• Carbon dioxide, ozone and other gases

4
Soil Resources

• Soil productivity (short and long term)
• Organic matter and soil structure
• Fertility levels (plant nutrition)
• Erosion potential
• Irrigation availability, cost and quality
  (salinity)

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Urbanization

• Competition between urban communities and farming
  operations for essential natural resources (land
  and water)
• One societys reliance on another society for
  food, fiber, water and other valuable products

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Markets

• Access
• Fluctuations
• Segments of agribusiness
• Farm programs and subsidies

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Loan rate or target price
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Loan rate or target price
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Loan rate or target price
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Variation in Crop Price from 2002-2007 in NCData
are percent of maximum price during that time
periodHow long will elevated or depressed prices
continue?
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Production Costs

• Variable costs
• Seed
• Fertilizer
• Pesticides
• Energy
• Fixed costs
• Equipment (depreciation and interest on
  investments)
• Infrastructure costs
• Buying points, grain elevators, processing
  facilities, transportation

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Cash Flow

• Monetary loans from lending institutions
  sufficient loans to plant the crop (anticipating
  profit at the end of the growing season)
• Leveraging property

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Regulatory Issues

• Pesticide use
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Food Quality Protection Act
• Rick/Benefit Analysis
• Land use issues
• NRCS, Natural Resources and Conservation Service

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Labor Pool

• Amount
• Availability
• Quality

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Diminished Voice

• Legislation
• Environmental and land use issues
• Support of agriculture (USDA, state agencies,
  land grant universities, Cooperative Extension
  Service

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The First Morrill Act (1862)

• Money was given to each state in order to
  establish a college
• States received money from the sale of 30,000
  public acres per senator and representative in
  Congress
• North Carolina State University is a Land Grant
  College with a mandate for Teaching, Research,
  and Extension

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Smith-Lever Act (1914)

• This act created the federal Cooperative
  Extension Service

• ..to aid in diffusing among the people of the
  United States useful and practical information on
  subjects relating to agriculture and home
  economics, and to encourage the application of
  the same

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The Current Land Grant Institution

• Research mandate
• Academic or teaching mandate
• Extension or outreach mandate

NC State is often referred to as The Peoples
University The Cooperative Extension Service
motto is Helping People Put Knowledge to Work
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County Agent Norman Rockwell