AGRICULTURE REPORT - American Farmers

AGRICULTURE REPORT
–
April 30, 2002: American Farmers

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.

Two new reports offer information about American farmers. The first report provides official information on
farms and farmland in the United States. The other gives the opinions of young American farmers.

The Department of Agriculture reports that the number of American farms decreased last
year. It estimates¹ there were two-million-one-hundred-sixty-thousand farms. That is down
seven-tenths of one percent from the number reported in Two-Thousand. It was the second
biggest decrease in the number of American farms since Nineteen-Ninety-One.

Nationwide, more than three-hundred-eighty-million hectares of land were used for
farming last year. That is down about eight -hundred-thousand hectares from one year
earlier.

The other report comes from the American
Farm Bureau² Federation³, the nation’s largest farm group. It
questioned about three-hundred farmers between the ages of eighteen
and thirty-five from across the country.

This report found that the leading concern of young farmers was
earning a profit. It was the fourth time in four years that those
questioned said making a profit was their top concern. For the fifth
year, the young farmers said international trade was important for
making a profit. Many of them said increasing agricultural exports was
the most important step the United States government could take to

help farmers.

The young farmers were divided on a question that dealt with future earnings⁴ from agriculture. A little more than
half said their farm earnings should come totally from selling their crops. The others said farmers also need
payments⁵ from government programs.

Fifty-one percent of those questioned said they started farming as a member of a family business. Twenty-seven
percent entered farming on their own. Almost fourteen percent said marriage led them to farming.

On a separate issue, almost seventy-two percent of the farmers said they or their husband or wife have an
additional⁶ job not connected with farming.

Fifty-nine percent of the young American farmers said they are more hopeful about farming now than they were
five years ago. More than ninety percent said they believe they will remain in farming all their lives. And, almost
eighty-five percent would like to see their children become farmers.

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.

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1 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 bureau   

n.提供或收集消息的机构；局，司，处；署

参考例句：

• The weather bureau makes daily reports on weather conditions.气象局每天报告天气状况。
• The Tourist Bureau arranged everything for our journey to Rome.旅游局已为我们去罗马旅行准备了一切。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

5 payments   

n.支付，付款，缴纳，报酬( payment的名词复数 )；付出的[要付出的]款项；报答，报偿

参考例句：

• Welfare payments cease as soon as an individual starts a job. 一旦就业，即停发福利救济。
• The law can compel fathers to make regular payments for their children. 这项法律可强制父亲定期支付子女的费用。

6 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。