Agricultural Greatness of the United States of America

Old School Crops Image Credit

Armour & Company put out the really cool map of the United States shown above way back in 1922. I stumbled across it on the Internet.  It states that the greatness of the United States is founded on agriculture.  I like the map.  If you focus in on Louisiana (where we live) it shows rice, swine, sugar cane, and fish being the primary crops.  I would think that most of those are the same, although probably sweet potatoes and definitely crawfish should be added.

Up in the top right hand side of the map above Michigan and New York, there is an interesting quote by L. Ogden Armour:

"Livestock represents about one third of the value of all farm products.  They play an essential part in maintaining the fertility of the soil.  Also they consume crops which humans could not consume, and by turning these crops into meat, they make them valuable.  Successful agriculture is largely dependent on livestock and the growing of livestock is in turn dependent on successful marketing of the meat animals.  Because nearly all industries depend on agriculture, the prosperity of the entire nation is inseparably linked to the marketing of meat and other animal products through the packing industry."

 Mr. Armour made an important statement when he talked about the way that animals and crops are dependent upon each other and both play an important role in agriculture.  I like the way they are inter-related and create a wonderful cycle that minimizes waste and also improves the soil instead of depleting it.

I want to talk about this a little more at a later time.  I find it very interesting in how much agriculture changed between the time that this map was printed and today.