The region of North America in which the United States is located has a convenient land structure and large land resources. Unfavorable land for agriculture and natural conditions prevail only in Alaska. In the United States, along with neighboring Canada, the world's largest and most productive agro-industrial complex has developed. This complex covers all areas of crop and livestock production. Agriculture in the United States is steadily growing and developing due to the fact that specialized huge agricultural belts have been created here - "corn", "wheat", "tobacco", "cotton" and the like.
This developed agriculture allows the United States to be the world leader in food exports. This is achieved through mechanization, modern infrastructure and specialization of production. Agriculture in the United States is based on developed farms, which in their work reach almost one hundred percent marketability. The average size of farms in the country is about 50 hectares. Crop production in the United States is the leader in the country's agricultural sector. Grain crops occupy 2/3 of all areas. The main grain crop is wheat, but much more fodder crops (corn, sorghum, etc.) are harvested. The "wheat" belt stretches almost throughout the country from Texas in the south to the Canadian steppes. Grain harvest is over 90 million tons.
The national crop of the United States is corn, its yield of 256 million tons is almost half of that of all countries in the world. Most of the corn is used for feeding livestock. The "corn" belt is located in the central plains (states of Illinois, Iowa and adjacent territories). It is the largest corn area in the world. Legumes occupy a special place among oil crops. Their collection is constantly growing and reaches 70 million tons: this is 3/5 of the world volume. These crops are used both for livestock feed and for nutrition (soybean oil and other products). Also, agriculture in the United States has a long tradition of growing cotton, which was the main export commodity in the 19th century. Cotton is grown in Texas and the southern mountain states on irrigated land, with long staple quality varieties mainly cultivated.
Agriculture in the United States attaches great importance to the cultivation of sugar cane and sugar beets. Sugar cane is predominantly grown in the western states, and sugar cane is grown on the Gulf Coast and Hawaii, and pineapples are also the main crop in Hawaii. Almost all citrus fruits and flowers are harvested in California and Florida. The country ranks first in the world for the production of tobacco. The main area for tobacco cultivation is Virginia with Richmond, which is the "tobacco capital". On the southern coast of the Great Lakes, California has vineyards and large orchards. In addition, agriculture in the northeastern United States (Maine) is America's largest blueberry growing area.
In the total volume of agricultural production, about 2/3 is made up of livestock products. This area is highly productive here, as it is provided with a powerful forage base. Animal husbandry in the United States specializes in breeding cattle for beef and dairy production. Pig production is also widespread, with the corn belt specializing in it. The most industrialized area of US agriculture is the raising of beef chickens (broilers), with up to 4 billion broilers per year.Agriculture in the United States is large in scale and produces a variety of products, due to this, not only provides its own needs in food and industrial crops, but also produces large volumes of products for export.
In terms of agricultural production, the United States is far superior to other countries. Agriculture USA not only provides the needs of the US population for basic food products and raw materials, with the exception of some crops grown in the tropical zone (such as coffee, cocoa, bananas), but also provides large export surpluses. In terms of the export of agricultural products, the United States ranks first in the world, giving over 15% of it (in value). Their share is especially large in the world trade of the most important food and feed crops - wheat, corn, soybeans, and also fruits. The export of agricultural products from the USA is several times higher than their import. At the same time, the share of agriculture in the country's GNP is small and, moreover, is gradually decreasing; at present it is not even 3%. Agriculture employs less than 4% of the economically active population. However, these figures do not give a complete and objective picture of the importance of US agriculture both for the country itself and for the whole world.
For US agriculture characterized by a high and, moreover, an ever-increasing level of development of capitalist relations, a sharply expressed commodity nature of production, high labor productivity, and a very strong regional specialization. All of them are associated with favorable natural conditions and features of socio-historical development.
The eastern half of the country is mostly flat, and in the western part there are many valleys and plateaus, where the nature of the surface does not prevent them from plowing or using as pastures. The USA is located in the temperate and subtropical zones; the climate here, with the exception of high-mountainous and especially arid areas, is suitable for agriculture. The huge variety of heat and moisture combinations over a vast area allows a very wide range of crops to be grown, from wheat, corn and cranberries to cotton, citrus and sugarcane, and for each crop, there are areas with particularly favorable conditions. It is indicative that almost 80% of the territory of the 48 "contiguous states" of the United States is used for the needs of agriculture to one degree or another.
The USA is a country of a resettlement type. The agrarian relations that developed in most of it were free of feudal vestiges. The land could be purchased from the state without much difficulty and at a relatively low price, and at first many simply went away from the already inhabited places, laid farms there and began to plow the land without asking anyone, by right of the pioneers (in the USA they were called squatter ).
In 1862, the US Congress passed the Homestead Act, according to which almost everyone could get a land plot on the virgin lands for a cheap price. Most of the expanses of the Near and especially the Middle and Far West were mastered by such "Gomsteders". The main type of farms here were medium and small farms, which produced most of their products for sale. The market for it was partly Western Europe, where industry was rapidly developing; in the second half of the 19th century, the demand for agricultural products grew rapidly in the thriving cities of the United States.
The construction of railways contributed to the strengthening of the marketability of the economy, the expansion of the geographical division of labor and its regional specialization. The abundance of land led to the fact that both agriculture and animal husbandry in the United States became predominantly extensive, when a farmer cultivates a large area, but the yield per hectare is relatively low.
The only large region of the United States where the development of capitalism in agriculture faced difficulties was the South, where, even in the colonial period, a plantation system of economy based on slave labor of blacks was formed. The war between the North and the South led to the legal emancipation of the slaves, but the land remained in the hands of the planters. As a result, the former slaves turned into beggar tenants - sharecroppers (the so-called croppers), completely dependent on the landowners. The cropping system, that is, semi-feudal sharecropping, which became especially widespread in the areas of cotton growing, for a long time determined the economic backwardness of the South and the stagnation of its agriculture. The situation here changed significantly only after World War II, with the beginning of the scientific and technological revolution era.
In agricultural production, large farms dominate, providing the bulk of marketable products and determining the position on the market: only 1% of farms provide almost 40% of marketable products. The scientific and technological revolution led to the development of the so-called agro-industrial complex (agribusiness), signifying the further strengthening of monopoly control over agriculture. Agribusiness includes, along with the production of agricultural products, its processing, storage, transportation and marketing, as well as the production of agricultural machinery, mineral fertilizers, chemicals and the like, that is, everything that is needed for agriculture.
Connections within agribusiness are much more complicated than a simple separation of functions for the production, processing and sale of agricultural products. Financial capital acts as the organizer of agricultural production, giving it an industrial character, turning it, in essence, into a kind of large-scale industrial production. The investment and output per person employed in agriculture is now greater than in most other sectors. Large, highly mechanized wheat farms have long been called "grain factories." Now they speak in the same way about cotton, animal feeding, broiler "factories".
The processes described above contributed to a rapid increase in labor productivity in agriculture, where it is growing much faster than in industry, and sharply increased the requirements for education and training of farmers. One person employed in agriculture now provides about 50 people with the necessary food products. In terms of output per person employed in agriculture, the United States noticeably surpasses the most developed Western European countries, at the same time being inferior to them in terms of yield per hectare, milk yield per cow, and other indicators of farm intensity.
In the US land fund (excluding Alaska), amounting to about 770 million hectares, arable land accounts for about 20%, meadows and pastures - more than 50%, and forests not used for livestock grazing - 15%. In the eastern, more humid part of the country, arable land and forests predominate in the land fund, and in the arid West, pastures; there, especially in the mountainous regions, there are many wastelands. The share of arable land in farmland is especially high in the prairie zone of the inner plains of the central United States, where it in places, for example in the state of Iowa, exceeds 90%. In the West, especially in the Mountain States, tracts of cultivated land are confined to irrigated oases. The total area of irrigated land exceeds 17 million hectares. Most of them (over 75%) are in the western states, but irrigation is increasingly used in the states of the Great Plains, where precipitation is unstable and there is a seasonal lack of moisture in the soil. Even in relatively well-humid eastern regions, additional irrigation by sprinkler irrigation is increasingly practiced in places, which makes it possible to significantly increase yields, especially of vegetables and fruits.
Agriculture in the United States is characterized by a certain predominance of animal husbandry, which provides more than 55% of all marketable output, over agriculture.However, the ratio between these industries is not the same in different parts of the country. The role of animal husbandry is especially great in the dairy belt - in the Northeast and in the Lakeside states, which specializes in the production of dairy products, in the corn belt - in the Midwest, south and southeast of the Great Lakes, where cattle and pigs are fed , and in a number of Mountain States, where young growth is raised on pastures. Agriculture in these areas is mainly focused on fodder production. In the milk belt, hayfields and improved pastures play a very important role, in some places occupying more than 75% of farm land. The cool climate and marginal soils make it unprofitable to grow grain, while grasses give high yields. At the same time, in California and in many southern states, agriculture is sharply dominated, specialized in the production of valuable industrial and food crops: cotton, tobacco, fruits, citrus fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, etc.
Almost 65% of the harvested area in the United States is occupied by cereals and legumes. The harvest of coarse grains is 4 times that of wheat. The main fodder crop is corn, which occupies 30 million hectares. The average corn yield in recent years has increased and reached 55 c / ha, while the average wheat yield is about 20 c / ha. More than 75% of the total corn harvest comes from the states of the corn belt of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and neighboring states. In this belt, with its extremely fertile soils and warm, humid climate, maize has proven to be the most productive and profitable of the grain crops. The conditions of this belt are most suitable for wheat, but corn has pushed it further west from here, into the drier regions of the Great Plains. Corn is grown in a crop rotation with soybeans, oats, and alfalfa. Most of its harvest is consumed locally for fattening cattle and pigs, and some is processed into compound feed, the main consumer of which has become poultry farms in the southeastern states. In arid regions, maize is replaced by sorghum, which is also used as animal feed.
Wheat is grown in many parts of the country, but most of the harvest comes from the western part of the Great Plains, where two zones with a sharp predominance of wheat in crops have developed - a belt of spring wheat in the north and a belt of winter wheat in the south. The border between wheat and maize-dominated zones is unstable; it moves depending on demand and the associated price fluctuations for these crops. Wheat is grown in large "grain factories", the area of which is often tens of thousands of hectares. Since the periods of work on the farms are short, some of the farmers live permanently in adjacent towns and villages and come to their land only during sowing and harvesting; these are "suitcase farmers". A lot of wheat is also grown on the Columbia Plateau in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest. In the whole country there is about the same amount of land under wheat as under corn - 25-30 million hectares.
Soybeans are increasingly competing with corn and wheat in terms of sowing, harvests and cost. This culture appeared in the United States in the early 30s of the 20th century. The United States now accounts for almost 60% of the world's soybean harvest. Soybean oil covers more than 65% of the US needs for edible vegetable oils. Soybeans have also become an important fodder crop, especially for the production of compound feed and concentrates. The main soybean crop area roughly coincides with the corn belt, which is now often referred to as the corn-soybean belt. In recent years, soybean crops have expanded rapidly in the southern states as well.
Among fibrous crops, a special place belongs to cotton. Its importance was especially great in the 19th century, when it was the main export crop of the United States. The slave-owning system of economy in the South was closely connected with the spread of cotton, where they rightly spoke of the domination of the "king-cotton".On agricultural maps of the United States, most of the territory of the South was recently distinguished as a cotton belt, but this is only a memory of the past, since a single cotton belt has long ceased to exist. The rapid development of chemical fiber production, as well as the expansion of cotton crops in countries where it is cheaper to grow, dealt a strong blow to cotton growing. This led to a reduction in production and a change in its geography. The southeastern states of cotton were especially severely reduced, where long-term monoculture severely depleted the soil and caused its erosion, rugged terrain did not allow the use of machines, and plantations were infested with pests. Large cotton plantations on non-irrigated land are now preserved in the low-lying floodplain of the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. Most of the fiber harvest is provided by the southwestern states (Texas, California, Arizona), where large, highly mechanized farms that widely use artificial irrigation are sharply prevalent. From cotton plantations, which occupy more than 5 million hectares, 2.5 million tons of fiber and 6 million tons of cottonseed are harvested - the second most important source of vegetable oils (after soybeans). A significant part of the cotton is exported abroad.
The United States also ranks first in the world in the collection of tobacco, the main cultivation area of which is the foothills of the Appalachians within the southeastern states. The area occupied by tobacco is relatively small, but this culture is laborious and requires a lot of manual labor. It is grown mainly on small farms that supply their products to large monopolies that own tobacco factories.
The production of sugar, both beetroot and cane sugar, is large. Sugar beets are grown mainly in the irrigated lands of the western states, and without irrigation in the Lakeside states (especially in Michigan). Reed is grown on the Gulf Coast (Florida, Louisiana) as well as in the Hawaiian Islands, where it is the leading crop. The United States is in short supply of its sugar, and about half of its consumption is covered by imports from Puerto Rico, the Philippines and other countries.
A very large place in the agriculture of the United States is occupied by a variety of fruits and vegetables. In most cases, their production is not concentrated in the suburban areas of large cities, but concentrated in those areas, but concentrated in those areas where the natural conditions are most favorable for them. This is primarily California and Florida, which together account for 70% of the fruit harvest (in value) and almost the entire collection of citrus fruits (oranges and lemons). Both of these states, along with the Atlantic Lowlands, stand out for growing early and winter vegetables and flowers. An important area of orchards and vineyards has developed along the southern shores of the Great Lakes, which soften the climate and reduce the risk of frost. The states of Maine in New England (without irrigation) and Idaho in the Highlands (on irrigated lands) are specialized in the production of potatoes.
Livestock raising in the United States is predominantly meat-based. The livestock population changes noticeably from season to year and from year to year, depending on demand and the availability of forage. The share of dairy cattle in the herd is systematically decreasing; it is high only in the milk belt. The states of the Northeast traditionally specialize in the supply of milk and whole milk products to the large cities of the Atlantic coast, while in the Lakeside states, most of the milk is used for the production of cheese and butter. The sharp decline in demand for butter leads to the fact that, despite the growth of the population, the total milk yield remains practically unchanged. As the average milk yield per cow rises, the number of dairy cattle is declining.
The distribution of the livestock of cattle raised for meat is mainly determined by the nature of the fodder base. For rearing young animals do not need concentrated feed, so it is concentrated mainly in areas with large areas of pasture, primarily in the Mountain States and the Great Plains.The reared young are supplied for further fattening in areas provided with concentrated feed. Chief among them is the Midwest corn belt. But since the end of the 20th century, the geography of cattle feeding began to change. In the states of the Great Plains, the sowing of sorghum has sharply increased, the areas of irrigated land occupied by fodder grains, soybeans, alfalfa, and sugar beets have expanded. This led to the development in the West of its own fattening of livestock. This area is characterized by very large farms, the so-called "meat factories".
Pig breeding also gravitates towards feed and is concentrated mainly in the corn belt. Pork, especially fatty ones, is in less demand in the United States than beef; bacon feeding is developed.
Poultry farming is highly developed. After World War II, a large new branch of animal husbandry grew rapidly - the industrial fattening of meat chickens (broilers). Its location is not related to the proximity of sales markets or feed base. 90% of broilers are produced in the southeastern states (Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina). The reason for such a high concentration of production is the mild warm climate, which allows to dramatically reduce the cost of poultry houses, and the availability of cheap labor. Broiler production is the most industrialized branch of American agriculture, where the concentration of production and capital is especially high.
The development of agriculture in the United States occurs in conditions of unstable demand for its products, which periodically leads to measures to restrict production. The scientific and technological revolution led, in particular, to a further strengthening of the specialization of farms. Almost 90% of the production comes from specialized farms, which receive more than half of the income from the sale of any one product. New forms and methods of organizing production and economic management, strengthening of specialization, development of interregional ties, and an increase in exports lead to significant changes in the geography of agriculture. For some of its branches, the areas of development are shrinking, they are concentrated in the territories that make it possible to receive the greatest profits. In particular, the share of the corn belt in the harvest of corn and oats, the wheat belts in the harvest of wheat, California and Florida in the production of fruits and vegetables, and the southeastern states in the feeding of broilers and eggs are growing. At the same time, the areas of distribution of other branches of agriculture are expanding. Fattening of cattle, sowing of soybeans, and sorghum have spread to new territories. Cotton growing is moving further and further to the west.
Idaho Is an important agricultural state. Grows: potatoes (about 1/3 of the total grown in the US), wheat, barley, beans, lentils, sugar beets. Animals: cattle and dairy farming.
Iowa - is a leading agricultural state. Grow: corn, soybeans, oats. Animals: pigs, cattle and dairy farming.
Alabama - soybeans, cotton are grown; animal husbandry is also developed.
Alaska - are engaged in fishing, raising reindeer.
Arizona - cotton, wheat, fruit trees (oranges, grapefruits), as well as sorghum, barley, vegetables are grown in the mountain valleys. Animals (meat and wool direction): they raise livestock, especially sheep.
Arkansas - agricultural state. The main s / g crop is cotton (4th place in the USA), soybeans, rice, corn, oats, potatoes, vegetables are also grown. Animals: large number of cattle.
Wyoming - grain, sugar beets, potatoes are grown in artificially irrigated areas; extensive animal husbandry.
Washington - growing wheat, barley, hops, potatoes, apples and other fruits. There are: animal husbandry and fishing.
Vermont - dairy farming, growing vegetables and fruits (apples, maple syrup).
Virginia - growing tobacco, corn, apples, peanuts. There are: animal husbandry and fishing.
Wisconsin - dairy farming (the largest supplier of milk in the United States); growing corn, vegetables, horticultural crops.
Hawaii - pineapples, sugar cane, coffee are grown.
Delaware - intensive vegetable growing, horticulture, poultry farming.
Georgia - growing cotton, soybeans, tobacco, maize, peanuts. Well-developed livestock and poultry farming.
West Virginia - they grow apples, corn, and are engaged in gardening. Animals (meat and dairy direction): cattle, poultry, dairy cattle.
Illinois - intensive cultivation of corn, soybeans, wheat. Animals: pigs.
Indiana - cultivation of corn, sorghum, vegetables, gardening; intensive pig farming.
California - growing fruits (strawberries), vegetables.
Kansas - growing wheat, corn; cattle breeding.
Kentucky - growing tobacco, soybeans, corn, cereals; animal husbandry.
Colorado - cultivation (artificial irrigation) of wheat, corn, sugar beet; sheep breeding;
Connecticut - vegetable growing and gardening, growing tobacco; breeding of dairy cattle and poultry.
Louisiana - growing rice, cotton, sugarcane, soybeans; fish and shellfish.
Massachusetts - growing of cranberries, vegetables and fruits, tobacco; animal husbandry; fishing: catching shellfish and lobsters.
Men - growing potatoes, forage grasses, garden products; poultry farming; fishing: lobsters.
Maryland - growing fruits and vegetables; poultry farming: poultry; fishing: trout fishing.
Minnesota - growing bread, soybeans, sugar beets, cereals; animal husbandry (meat and dairy industry).
Mississippi - grow cotton, rice, soybeans, corn; animal husbandry; poultry farming: chickens; forestry and fishing (molluscs).
Missouri - the agricultural region of the Great Plains is important. They grow corn, soybeans, wheat; animal husbandry.
Michigan - growing bread, forage grasses, fruit trees; dairy farming.
Montana - growing wheat (on irrigated land), barley; livestock: sheep breeding.
Nebraska - Great Plains - a field of agriculture; growing: corn, wheat, barley; animal husbandry.
Nevada - growing (artificial irrigation) of cotton, wheat; sheep breeding.
New Hampshire - they grow vegetables, fruits, are engaged in gardening: dairy farming; poultry farming.
New Jersey - intensive field cultivation (fruits and vegetables); dairy farming; fishing (shellfish).
New York - dairy farming, poultry farming, fishing; growing vegetables and fruits.
New Mexico - field cultivation (wheat, corn, cotton, vegetables); animal husbandry.
Ohio - intensive cultivation of corn, soybeans (Korn-Soy-Belt region, corn-soybean strip), forage grasses; breeding of cattle and pigs.
Oklahoma - Bread, cotton, cereals, peanuts, meat livestock are grown on the prairies.
Oregon - agriculture in the Vilamet valley, namely wheat; animal husbandry.
South Dakota - extensive livestock breeding and wheat cultivation.
South Carolina - growing cotton, tobacco, soybeans, gardening; livestock, forestry and fishing.
North Dakota - extensive cultivation of wheat and barley; animal husbandry (livestock breeding); produce agricultural equipment.
North Carolina - growing tobacco (1st place in the country), corn, soybeans; animal husbandry; poultry farming.
Rhode Island - growing vegetables and fruits; dairy farming and fishing.
Tennessee - growing corn, soybeans, cotton; animal husbandry.
Texas - 1st place in the USA in the number of cattle and sheep, cotton and sorghum picking.
Florida - Citrus fruits, melons and vegetables are grown; fishing (oysters).
Utah - cultivation (artificial irrigation) of wheat, sugar beet; animal husbandry.
This marks the beginning of a new trend in the grain production of this crop.
In a report released on September 30, 2016, the USDA said that while the area harvested for wheat has dropped to its lowest levels in 46 years, American farmers have harvested the largest grain harvest since the 2008/2009 marketing year. According to the ministry, in the 2016/2017 marketing year, wheat production in the United States increased by 7 million tons and amounted to 62.9 million tons. This is 13% more than was collected last year and 10% more than the average for the last five years (57 million tons). The reduction in wheat threshing area was more than offset by a 21% increase in yields.
Low grain purchase prices last fall caused US farmers to plant less Hard Red Winter (HRW), Hard Red Spring (HRS) and Soft Red Winter (SRW). The rise in prices for soft white wheat (SW), a consequence of the drought and limited supply of this type of wheat, stimulated an increase in the SW area planted on the northwest coast of the Pacific Ocean. High prices for durum also favored an increase in the sowing area of this type of wheat. However, the increase in the area planted for SW and durum was not sufficient to compensate for the reduction in the area under crops for other types of wheat. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the total sowing area of wheat was 20.3 million hectares and decreased by 8% compared to last year and 10% compared to the average of the last five years.
Thanks to the mild winter and early spring, the wheat "came out of hibernation" in a much better condition than usual. In most production areas, early spring allowed farmers to finish planting spring wheat ahead of schedule. Spring rains, accompanied by a favorable background temperature, contributed to the fact that the yield of all types of American wheat increased by 21% compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year and amounted to 3.54 t / ha, exceeding the average yield values for the last five years by 17% ( 3.02 t / ha).
Over the past 50 years, wheat yields in the United States have increased by an average of 0.27 t / ha every ten years, or 0.2% per year. This increase was achieved mainly due to the introduction of advanced breeding methods and agricultural production. Thus, it is safe to say that the current increase in yield by 0.60 t / ha marks the beginning of a new trend.
With yields at the level of the last five years in the 2016/2017 marketing year, wheat production in the United States would have amounted to 53.9 million tons and would have decreased by 3% compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year. Yield growth plays into the hands of US wheat buyers, who can profitably purchase high-quality wheat at the lowest prices in a decade.
Meanwhile, sowing of winter wheat is gaining momentum in the United States. Today it is difficult to say how much of it will be sown for the 2017/2018 harvest, since for many farmers, the current grain prices, which have been at the minimum values of the last ten years, have dropped below the cost of production. Thus, the US is likely to again expect a reduction in the area under wheat sowing. And if at the same time the yield reaches average indicators, then next year the production of wheat in the United States will inevitably decrease.
Let's see how things are going with the production of the main types of wheat grown in the United States.
Hard red winter wheat (HRW). According to the US Department of Agriculture, in the 2016/2017 marketing year, the sowing area of this type of wheat was 10.7 million hectares and decreased by 9% compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year. Taking into account the extremely favorable weather conditions in most of the HRW growing areas this year, the USDA predicts that HRW production will increase by 30% in the 2016/2017 marketing year to 29.4 million tonnes. In the states of Kansas and Oklahoma, which are the top states in HRW production, yields grew by 54% and 50%, respectively.
Durum red grain spring wheat (HRS). In the northern Great Plains, HRS lost out to pulses, durum and oilseeds this year. As a result, in comparison with the 2015/2016 marketing year, the sowing area of this type of wheat decreased by 9% and amounted to 4.61 million hectares. According to the US Department of Agriculture, in the state of North Dakota, which is the leader in the production of HRS, the yield decreased by 4% and amounted to 3.09 t / ha. The US Department of Agriculture predicts that compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year, production of HRS will decrease by 13% and amount to 13.4 million tons.
Soft red winter wheat (SRW). According to the US Department of Agriculture, in the 2016/2017 marketing year, the sowing area of this type of wheat was 2.66 million hectares and decreased by 7% compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year, as well as by 20% compared to the average of the last five years. The USDA predicts that SRW production will increase by 3% compared to the marketing year 2015/2016 and will amount to 10.1 million tons, and compared with the average results of the last five years, it will decrease by 18%.
Soft white wheat (SW). Despite the fact that the SW sowing in the Pacific Northwest coast took place against the background of a drought that has continued over the past three years, the area under crops of this type of wheat increased slightly compared to last year and amounted to 1.68 million hectares. Well-timed rains contributed to the yield growth. USDA forecasts SW production of 7.78 million tonnes, an increase of 27% over the 2015/2016 marketing year, and 8% over the five-year average (7 million tonnes).
Durum. High prices for durum have stimulated an increase in the sowing area of this type of wheat. Northern Durum is grown on farms in North Dakota and Montana, while Desert Durum is grown in Arizona and California. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the sowing area of durum was 860 thousand hectares and increased by 24% compared to the 2015/2016 marketing year. At the same time, the sowing area of durum has decreased by 5% compared to the average results of the last five years (910 thousand hectares). USDA predicts durum production in the 2016/2017 marketing year will be 2.25 million tonnes, an increase of 24% over the 2015/2016 marketing year.
Stephanie Bryant-Erdmann, Marketing Analyst, American Wheat Association
