AGRICULTURE REPORT - More From Less: America's Highly Produc

AGRICULTURE REPORT - More From Less: America's Highly Productive¹ Farms
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, June 28, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

 

At one time, the United States was a nation of farmers. In nineteen hundred, about thirty-nine percent of Americans or thirty million people lived on farms. A similar percentage of the labor² force earned a living by working on farms.

By nineteen ninety, fewer than two percent of the population lived or worked on farms. There were also fewer farms. In nineteen forty, there were more than six million farms in America. Today there are fewer than two million.

While the number of farms decreased, the size of the remaining farms increased. The average farm today is about two hundred hectares. In nineteen hundred, it was sixty.

As the United States became an industrial nation, its farms changed not only in size, but in their business plans.

In the past, farmers raised many different crops or animals. For example, in nineteen hundred, almost all farms raised chickens. More than seventy-five percent of farms raised pigs and milk cows. In nineteen ninety-seven, however, only about six percent of farms raised these animals.

The trend in American farming has been to specialize. Farmers put their efforts into intensively raising only a few things.

New technology has helped create specialized³ systems that produce more using less labor. Two examples of this are milk and corn.

Since nineteen twenty-four, American milk production has grown almost one hundred percent. But the number of milk cows has decreased by half. Cows today produce more than four times more milk than their ancestors eighty years ago.

The same is true for corn. Improved kinds of corn produce about four point seven times more corn per hectare than one hundred years ago.

Economists⁴ call producing more with less an increase in productivity⁵. The Department of Agriculture uses a measure called an index to show how productivity changes. It says America's agricultural productivity increased by more than one hundred percent between nineteen fifty and nineteen ninety-six.

Over the same period, prices of agricultural goods fell by more than fifty percent. So, the trend toward increased productivity has meant lower prices. Many farmers have answered by increasing the size of their specialized operations. Information in this report comes from the National Agricultural Statistics⁶ Service.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。

6 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。