United States of America

A

Agriculture

Farming accounts for less than 2 per cent of annual GDP and employs less than 3 per cent of US workers, yet the nation leads the world in many aspects of agricultural production. Farmers not only produce enough to meet domestic needs, they also enable the United States to export more farm products per year than any other nation in the world. The total annual value of farm output increased from about US$55 billion in 1970 to about US$202 billion in 1994. Excluding inflation, the increase in the farm output was 2 per cent annually.

The small subsistence farm run by a farmer primarily to meet personal needs has virtually disappeared from the American scene; most agricultural products are grown on large commercial farms for shipment to urban and industrial markets. The number of farms in the United States decreased from more than 5.6 million in 1950 to about 2.1 million in 1995. At the same time, average farm size increased from 86 hectares (213 acres) to 190 hectares (469 acres). In the mid-1990s livestock and livestock products accounted for 49 per cent of the value of all farm marketings, and crops for the remainder. California led all states in the yearly value of farm receipts; it was followed by Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, and Minnesota.

Beef cattle rank as the most valuable product of the nation’s farms, accounting for almost one fifth of total annual farm receipts. Many are raised on large ranches in south-western states. Dairy products represent about 11 per cent of the yearly value of farm marketings and are the second most valuable item coming from American farms. Other major livestock and livestock products include pigs, chickens, eggs, turkeys, and sheep and lambs.

Leading agricultural crops are maize, vegetables, soya beans, fruits and nuts, wheat, cotton, and tobacco. Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Indiana together produce about two thirds of the annual maize crop, while Kansas usually leads all states in yearly wheat production. For more than a century and a half, cotton was the predominant cash crop in the South. Today, however, it is no longer important in some of the traditional cotton-growing areas east of the Mississippi River and is now concentrated in relatively flat areas amenable to large-scale mechanization, such as the lower Mississippi Valley, the plains of Texas, and the valleys of California and Arizona. Tobacco remains an important cash crop. The leading tobacco-producing states are North Carolina and Kentucky.

Other leading crops include peanuts, peaches, tomatoes, and apples. More than 75 per cent of the oranges and about 50 per cent of the tomatoes are produced in Florida; some 84 per cent of the grapes are raised in California; and about 50 per cent of the commercial apples come from orchards in Washington state. Additional major vegetable crops are sugar cane, rice, sorghum grain, dry beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms; valuable fruit crops include cantaloupe melons and watermelons, cherries, pears, plums and prunes, and strawberries. Major nut crops include almonds, pecans, and walnuts.

B

Forestry

Forests cover around 31 per cent of the United States, or about 303 million hectares (749 million acres). About 73 per cent of the commercial forestland is privately owned by farmers, timber companies, paper mills, and other wood-using industries. The remaining 27 per cent is owned by federal, state, and local governments. Softwoods make up about three quarters of the production, and hardwoods about one quarter. Nearly half the timber output is used for timber, and about one third is converted to pulpwood, which is subsequently used to manufacture paper. Most of the remaining output goes into plywood and veneer. Douglas fir and southern yellow pine are the primary softwoods used for timber, and oak is the most important hardwood. About half of the nation’s timber and all the fir plywood come from the forests of the Pacific states, an area dominated by softwoods.

C

Fishing

In 2005 the United States had an annual fish catch of about 5.40 million tonnes, with a value of approximately US$3 billion. The United States is usually sixth among the nations of the world in weight of total catch, ranking behind China, Japan, Peru, Chile, and Russia. In addition to commercial fishing, sport fishing is popular in many states.

Marine species dominate commercial landings, with freshwater fish representing only a small portion of the total catch. Shellfish account for only about 15 per cent of the weight of the total catch but 45 per cent of the value. The most valuable species caught are salmon (16 per cent of the total catch value), shrimp (13 per cent), and crabs (13 per cent). Other important species include scallops, lobster, flounder, Pacific cod, clams, and oysters.

Alaska leads all states in both the volume and value of the catch; important species caught at Alaska ports include pollack and salmon. Other leading fishing states, ranked by value, are Louisiana, Massachusetts, Texas, Maine, California, Florida, Washington, and Virginia. Measured by value of the catch, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is the nation’s leading fishing port, followed by New Bedford, Massachusetts. Important species caught in the New England region include lobsters, scallops, clams, oysters, and cod; in the Chesapeake Bay, crabs; and in the Gulf of Mexico, menhaden and shrimp.

Much of the annual tonnage of commercial freshwater fish comes from farms. The most important species raised on farms are catfish, trout, salmon, oysters, and crayfish. The total annual output of private catfish and trout farms in the mid-1990s was 232,800 tonnes, valued at more than US$380 million.

D

Mining

The United States ranks among world leaders in value of annual mineral production. Mining contributes about 1.4 per cent of annual GDP and employs about 0.5 per cent of the workers. Minerals are produced in all states, but Texas, Louisiana, Alaska, California, Wyoming, and Oklahoma typically account for half of the value of the nation’s annual mineral production. Texas alone accounts for more than one fifth of the value of total US output.

The three chief mineral products are fuels. In order of value, they are natural gas, petroleum, and coal. In the early 1990s the United States produced 25 per cent of the world’s natural gas, 19 per cent of its coal, and 11 per cent of its crude oil. Sixty per cent of the nation’s most valuable mineral, natural gas, is produced in Texas and Louisiana. Petroleum accounted for nearly one third of US fuel production and about one quarter of the annual value of all minerals produced in the United States. Texas, Alaska, and California together yield more than half of the nation’s petroleum.

Coal, the third leading mineral, accounts for about one sixth of the yearly value of all US mining output, much of it produced in mines in the Appalachians. Wyoming, Kentucky, and West Virginia, which together produce more than half of the annual US output, are the leading coal mining states. Nuclear energy, which is used to supplement petroleum, natural gas, and coal, is produced from uranium that is mined chiefly in Texas, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Important metals mined in the United States include gold, copper, iron ore, zinc, magnesium, lead, and silver. Leading industrial minerals are materials used in construction—clays, lime, salt, phosphate rock, boron, and potassium salts. In the mid-1990s the United States produced about 51 per cent of the world’s mica, 48 per cent of its magnesium, 45 per cent of its molybdenum, 33 per cent of its phosphate rock, 23 per cent of its elemental sulphur, and 13 per cent of its lead. Most of the iron ore comes from the Superior Upland region, especially the Mesabi Range of north-eastern Minnesota. About 60 per cent of the nation’s copper output is mined in Arizona; phosphate rock is mined in large quantities in Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, and Tennessee; Arizona, Colorado, and Utah are the chief sources of molybdenum; Missouri, Idaho, and Alaska are among the leading producers of lead; Alaska and Tennessee, of zinc. More than four fifths of the nation’s potash is produced in New Mexico. Nevada, Alaska, and Idaho are important sources of silver; and Nevada, California, and Utah, are leading producers of gold.

E

Manufacturing

About 14 per cent of annual GDP is accounted for by manufacturing, which employs about one sixth of the nation’s workers. The total value of manufacturers’ shipments in the 1990s was approximately US$2,820 billion annually. Although manufacturing remains a key component of the US economy, it has declined in relative importance since the late 1960s. From 1970 to 1995 the overall number of employees in manufacturing declined from 20.7 million to 20.5 million, while the total labour force grew by more than 46.2 million people.

Perhaps the most important change in recent decades has been the growth of manufacturing outside the north-eastern and north-central regions. The nation’s industrial core developed in the north-east and this is still the location of the greatest concentration of industry, but it has become relatively less significant than in the past. In the early 1990s about half of the nation’s manufacturing employees were found in the 21 north-eastern and north-central states that extend from New England to Kansas; in 1947 about 75 per cent of the manufacturing employees lived in the same region. Since 1947 the South’s share of the nation’s manufacturing workers has increased from 19 to 32 per cent, and that in the West has grown from 7 to 18 per cent. Within the North, manufacturing is centred in the Middle Atlantic and eastern north-central states, which account for about 37 per cent of the annual value added by all manufacturing in the United States. Located in this area are five of the top seven manufacturing states—New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan—which together are responsible for approximately 27 per cent of the value added by manufacturing in all states each year.

The greatest gains in manufacturing in the South have been in Texas, and the most phenomenal growth in the West has been in California, which in the early 1990s was the leading manufacturing state, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the annual value added by manufacturing.

Ranked by value of manufacturers’ shipments, the leading categories of US manufactured goods are processed foods, transport equipment, chemicals, industrial machinery, and electronic equipment.

All varieties of industrial machinery accounted for about 10 per cent of the yearly value added by manufacture in the mid-1990s. Industrial machinery includes engines, farm equipment, various kinds of construction machinery, office machines, and refrigeration equipment. Transport equipment includes cars, trucks, aeroplanes, space vehicles, ships and boats, and railway equipment. Michigan, with its huge motor industry, is a leading producer of transport equipment. California is a leader in the aerospace industry.

Food processing accounted for about 11 per cent of the overall annual value added by manufacture in the mid-1990s, and the chemical industry contributed about the same. Texas and Louisiana are leaders in chemical manufacturing. The petroleum and natural gas produced and refined in both states are basic raw materials used in manufacturing many chemical products. Food processing is an important industry in several states noted for the production of food crops and livestock, or both. California has a large fruit- and vegetable-processing industry. Meat-packing in Illinois and dairy-processing in Wisconsin make both states leaders in food manufacturing.

The electronic equipment industry includes the manufacture of electric industrial apparatus, household appliances, radio and television equipment, electronic components, and communications devices. California, Illinois, Indiana, and Massachusetts are all leaders in the production of electronic equipment, which is one of the fastest-growing sectors of US industry.

The manufacture of fabricated metal and primary metal is concentrated in the nation’s industrial core region. Iron ore from the Lake Superior district, as well as that imported from Canada and other countries, and Appalachian coal are the basis for a huge iron and steel industry. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan are leading states in the value of primary metal output. The fabricated metal industry, which includes the manufacture of cans and other containers, hardware, and metal forgings and stampings, is important in the same states.

The rubber and plastics industry is located mainly in the nation’s industrial core region. Ohio, which has a large concentration of tyre-manufacturing plants, has long been a leader in this industry.

Printing and publishing is a widespread industry, with newspapers published throughout the country. New York, with its book-publishing industry, is the leading state.

Paper-products manufacture is important, particularly in those states with sizeable timber resources, especially softwood trees used to make most paper. The manufacture of paper and paperboard contributes significantly to the economies of Wisconsin, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

Other major US manufactures include textiles, clothing, precision instruments, timber, furniture, tobacco products, leather goods, and stone, clay, and glass items.