XI CHIEF GOODS AND SERVICES OF THE U.S. ECONOMY
The U.S. economy, the largest in the world, produces many different goods
and services. This can be seen more easily by dividing economic
activities into four sectors that produce different kinds of goods and
services. The first sector provides goods that come directly from natural
resources: agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining. The second sector
includes manufacturing and the generation of electricity. The third
sector, made up of commerce and services, is now the largest part of the
U.S. economy. It encompasses financial services, retail and wholesale
sales, government services, transportation, entertainment, tourism, and
other businesses that provide a wide variety of services to individuals
and businesses. The fourth major economic sector deals with the
recording, processing, and transmission of information, and includes the
communications industry.
A Natural Resource Sector
The United States, more than most countries, enjoys a wide array of
natural resources. Agricultural output in the United States has
historically been among the highest in the world. Rich fishing grounds
and coastal habitats provide abundant seafood. Companies harvest the
nation’s large reserves of timber to use in wood products and housing.
Major mineral resources—including iron ore, lead, and copper, as well as
energy resources such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas—are abundant in
the United States.
A1 Agriculture
The United States contains some of the best cropland in the world.
Cultivated farmland constitutes 19 percent of the land area of the
country and makes the United States the world’s richest agricultural
nation. In part because of the nation’s favorable climate, soil, and
water conditions, farmers produce huge quantities of agricultural
commodities and a variety of crops and livestock.
The United States is the largest producer of corn, soybeans, and sorghum,
and it ranks second in the production of wheat, oats, citrus fruits, and
tobacco. The United States is also a major producer of sugar cane,
potatoes, peanuts, and beet sugar. It ranks fourth in the world in cattle
production and second in hogs. The total annual value of farm output
increased from $55 billion in 1970 to $202 billion in 1996. Farmers in
the United States not only produce enough food to feed the nation’s
population, they also export more farm products than any other nation.
Despite this vast output, the U.S. economy is so large and diversified
that agriculture accounted for only 2 percent of annual GDP and employed
only 3 percent of the workforce in 1998.
During the 20th century, many Americans moved from rural to urban areas
of the United States, resulting in large population decreases in farming
regions. Even though the number of farms has been declining since the
1930s, overall production has increased because of more efficient
operations. Bigger farms, operated as large businesses, have increasingly
replaced small family farms. The owners of larger farms make greater use
of modern machinery and other equipment. By the 1990s, farm operations
were highly mechanized. By applying mechanization, technology, efficient
business practices, and scientific advances in agricultural methods,
larger farms produce great quantities of agricultural output using small
amounts of labor and land.
In 1999 there were 2,194,070 farms in the United States, down from a high
of 6.8 million in 1935. As smaller farms have been consolidated into
larger units, the average farm size in the United States increased from
about 63 hectares (about 155 acres) to 175 hectares (432 acres) by 1999.
Cattle production is widespread throughout the United States. Texas leads
in the production of range cattle, which are allowed to graze freely.
Iowa and Illinois are important for nonrange feeder cattle, which are
cattle that eat feed grain provided by cattle farmers. The Dairy Belt
continues to be concentrated in southern Wisconsin but is also prominent
in the rural landscapes of most northeastern states and fairly common in
other states, too. Hog production tends to be concentrated in Iowa,
Illinois, and surrounding states, where hogs are fattened for market.
Chicken production is widespread, but southern states, including Texas,
Arkansas, and Alabama, dominate.
Corn and soybean production is concentrated heavily in Iowa and Illinois
and is also important in surrounding states, including Missouri, Indiana,
Nebraska, and the southern regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wheat is
another important U.S. crop. Kansas usually leads all states in yearly
wheat production. North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Washington, Idaho,
South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, and Nebraska also are major
wheat producers.
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. While
some cotton is still produced in the Old South, it has become more
important in the Mississippi Valley, the Panhandle of Texas, and the
Central Valley of California. Cotton is shipped to mills in the eastern
United States and is exported to cotton textile plants in Japan, South
Korea, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
Vegetables are grown widely in the United States. Outside major U.S.
cities, small farms and gardens, known as truck farms, grow vegetables
and some varieties of fruits for urban markets. California is the leading
vegetable producing state; much of its cropland is irrigated.
Most fruits grown in the United States fall in the categories of
midlatitude and citrus fruits. Midlatitude fruits, such as apples, pears,
and plums, grow in northern states including Washington, Michigan,
Pennsylvania, and New York. Citrus fruits—lemons, oranges, and
grapefruits—thrive in Florida, southern Texas, and southern California.
Nuts grow on irrigated land in the Central Valley of California and in
parts of southern California.
Production of specialty crops and livestock has increased in recent
years, particularly along the East and West coasts and in the Southeast.
Ranches in New York and Texas have introduced exotic game, such as emu,
fallow deer, and nilgai and black buck antelope. Deer and antelope meat,
known as venison, is served mainly in restaurants. Specialty vegetable
and fruit operations produce dwarf apples, brown and green cotton,
canola, and jasmine rice. Farmers raise more than 60 specialty crops in
the United States for Asian-American markets, including bean sprouts,
snow peas, and Chinese cabbage.
A2 Forestry
In the 1990s, less than 1 percent of the country’s workforce was involved
in the lumber industry, and forestry accounted for less than 0.5 percent
of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Nevertheless, forests
represent a crucial resource for U.S. industry. Forest resources are used
in producing housing, fuel, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods. The
United States leads the world in lumber production and is second in the
production of wood for pulp and paper manufacture. These high production
levels, however, do not satisfy all of the U.S. demand for forest
products. The United States is the world’s largest importer of lumber,
most of which comes from Canada.
When European settlers first arrived in North America, half of the land
on the continent was covered with forests. The forests of the eastern and
northern portions of the country were fairly continuous. Beginning with
the early colonists, the natural vegetation was altered drastically as
farmers cleared land for crops and pastures, and cut trees for firewood
and lumber. In the north and east, lumbermen quickly cut all of the
valuable trees before moving on to other locations. Only 10 percent of
the original virgin timber remains. Almost two thirds of the forests that
remain have been classified as commercial resources.
Forests still cover 23 percent of the United States. The trees in the
nation’s forests contain an estimated 7.1 billion cu m (249.3 billion cu
ft) of wood suitable for lumber. Private individuals and businesses,
including farmers, lumber companies, paper mills, and other wood-using
industries, own about 73 percent of the commercial forestland. Federal,
state, and local governments own the remaining 27 percent.
Softwoods (wood harvested from cone-bearing trees) make up about three-
fourths of forestry production and hardwoods (wood harvested from broad-
leafed trees) about one-fourth. Nearly half the timber output is used for
making lumber boards, 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 in making lumber, and oak is the most
important hardwood.
About half of the nation’s lumber and all of its fir plywood come from
the forests of the Pacific states, an area dominated by softwoods. In
addition to the Douglas fir forests in Washington and Oregon, this area
includes the famous California redwoods and the Sitka spruce along the
coast of Alaska. Forests in the mountain states of the West cover a
relatively small area, yet they account for more than 10 percent of the
nation’s lumber production. Ponderosa pine is the most important species
cut from the forests of this area.
Forests in the South supply about one-third of the lumber, nearly three-
fifths of the pulpwood, and almost all the turpentine, pitch, resin, and
wood tar produced in the United States. Longleaf, shortleaf, loblolly,
and slash pine are the most important commercial trees of the southern
coastal plain. Commercially valuable hardwood trees, such as gum, ash,
pecan, and oak, grow in the lowlands along the rivers of the South.
The Appalachian Highland and parts of the Great Lakes area have excellent hardwood forests. Hickory, maple, oak, and other hardwoods removed from these forests provide fine woods for the manufacture of furniture and other products.
In the 1990s the forest products industry was undergoing a transformation. New environmental requirements, designed to protect wildlife habitat and water resources, were changing forest practices, particularly in the West. The amount of timber cut on federal land declined by 50 percent from 1989 to 1993.
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