[Vision2020] Agriculture 1% of Rockies' Economy

[Ron Force]

>From New West Net:

The Western Economy
State of the Rockies: Agriculture Just 1 Percent of Economy
Surprising statistics shine new light on farming and ranching in the  West.

By Jill Kuraitis, 7-02-10

The Rocky Mountain West is not an agriculture region anymore.

The myth – perpetuated by generations of farmers, the media and state  
legislatures dominated by agricultural representatives – is that growing  food 
and ag commodities is the backbone of our economy. But an  impressive and 
comprehensive study of the region reports that  agriculture counts for just 1 
percent of it and the number of people who  own or work on farms is just 2 
percent of the population, down from 35  percent at its peak in 1920.

Colorado College’s 2010 State of the Rockies report, now in its eighth  year of 
research and reporting on issues that define our lives in the  mountain west, is 
focused on agriculture. The report provides the  statistical overview of the 
region’s industry, but also delves deep into  agricultural history, land and 
water use, demographics, production,  finance, organization, and a “foodprint” 
of Rockies’ agriculture,  according to project leaders.

States defined as part of the Rockies are Montana, Wyoming, Colorado,  New 
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Idaho.

The average age of farm operators in the U.S. has increased from 52 to  57 years 
old, and only between 1 and 6 percent earn all their income  from farming. In 
the Rockies, female farmers have increased by 257  percent. Ethnic diversity 
among farm owners and operators is also  trending upward.

Other highlights from the report:

    * The Rockies contain only 7 percent of the nation’s family farms.

    * Continuing competition from corporate farms which produce huge  crops to 
sell at lower prices, still threatens smaller operations. Just 4  percent of 
farms are responsible for 45 percent of sales.

    * Organic crops, now counted as a separate and distinct category in  the 
report, are grown on 678,000 acres, with another 37,000 being  converted to 
organic.

    * Rocky Mountain sales of livestock are higher than average, while  sales of 
soybeans and corn are lower than average. Farmers are concerned  with the 
futures and commodities markets and increased investment  activity, which drives 
food prices up.

    * Stressors to farmers also include bank failures, difficulty in  getting 
loans from federal agencies, increases in property taxes, and  rising costs of 
feed, fuel and contract labor. 



The president of the National Farmers Union is quoted in the report:  “Without a 
properly functioning and regulated futures market, a train  wreck is headed 
straight for rural America that will jeopardize our  ability to continue 
providing a safe, affordable and abundant food  supply for this nation.” 


Comment:
Note that the population of "the Rockies" (as they term the states  between the 
3 west coast states and the plains) is 7% of that of the US,  so the "only" in 
the bullet item about family farms (in this summary)  shouldn't be too 
surprising.

On pg. 14, the table of 2008 employment by occupation tells us what the  "other 
99" are doing:
34% "Management, professional and related"
18% "Service"
25% "Sales and office"
11% "Construction, extraction, maintenance and repair"
10% "Production, transportation, and Material Moving"

In the aggregate, pretty close to the same as the US overall, although  states 
vary within the region. (Idaho has 3% Farming, fishing and  forestry, Wyoming's 
big in extraction, etc.)

One of the key findings (p. 20) was that the peak of the Rockies farm  
population was 35%, reached in 1920; today it is 2%.

This article was printed from www.newwest.net at the following URL: 
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/state_of_the_rockies_agriculture_just_1_percent_of_economy/C559/L559/



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20100703/0b94a043/attachment.html