Commercial Agriculture: Animal-based

Dairy farming is the most important agriculture practiced near large urban areas in developed countries. Ranching is adapted to semiarid or arid land and is practiced in developed countries where the vegetation is too sparse and soil too poor to support crops.

Livestock Ranching

Ranching is the commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area. Commercial ranching is conducted in several developed countries besides the United States and, increasingly, in developing countries. For example, the interior of Australia was opened for grazing in the nineteenth century, although sheep are more common there than cattle.

China is the leading producer of meat, ahead of the United States, and Brazil is third (Figure 9-45). China passed the United States as the world’s leading meat producer in 1990 and now produces twice as much. In South America, a large portion of the pampas of Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay is devoted to grazing cattle and sheep. The cattle industry grew rapidly in Argentina in part because the land devoted to ranching was relatively accessible to the ocean, making it possible for meat to be transported to overseas markets.

Meat Production, 2016

China is now the largest meat producer.

The growth in ranching has been in developing countries. Developed countries were responsible for only one-third of world meat production in 2017, compared to two-thirds in 1980.

Ranching: Feed Lot

Beef cattle fatten in a feed lot in Durango, Mexico.

Meanwhile, due to the spread of irrigation techniques and hardier crops, land in the United States has been converted from ranching to crop growing. Ranching generates lower income per area of land, although it has lower operating costs. Cattle are still raised on ranches but are frequently sent for fattening to farms or to local feed lots along major railroad and highway routes rather than directly to meat processors.

Pause & Reflect 9.3.7

What are the two most important ranched animals, according to Figure 9-45?

Dairy

A dairy farm specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products. Because milk is highly perishable, dairy farms must be closer to their markets than other products. The ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling is known as the milkshed.

Traditionally most milk was produced and consumed in developed countries. However, the share of the world’s dairy farming conducted in developing countries has risen dramatically in recent years. Rising incomes permit urban residents to buy more milk products. Dairy farmers, like other commercial farmers, usually do not sell their products directly to consumers. Instead, they generally sell milk to wholesalers, who distribute it in turn to retailers. Retailers then sell milk to consumers in shops or at home. Farmers also sell milk to butter and cheese manufacturers.

Milk Production, 2016

The United States is the largest milk producer, followed by India.

The choice of product varies within the U.S. dairy region, depending on whether the farms are within the milkshed of a large urban area. In general, the farther the farm is from large urban concentrations, the smaller is the percentage of output devoted to fresh milk. Farms located farther from consumers are more likely to sell their output to processors who make butter, cheese, or dried, evaporated, and condensed milk. The reason is that these products keep fresh longer than milk does and therefore can be safely shipped from remote farms.

In the East, virtually all milk is sold to consumers living in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the other large urban areas. Farther west, most milk is processed into cheese and butter. Most of the milk in Wisconsin is processed, for example, compared to only 5 percent in Pennsylvania. The proximity of northeastern farmers to several large markets accounts for these regional differences. Countries likewise tend to specialize in certain products. New Zealand, the world’s largest per capita producer of dairy products, devotes about 5 percent to liquid milk, compared to more than 50 percent in the United Kingdom. New Zealand farmers do not sell much liquid milk, because the country is too far from North America and Northwest Europe, the two largest relatively wealthy population concentrations.

Dairying

Milking cows, Hampshire, United Kingdom.

Like other commercial farmers, dairy farmers face economic difficulties because of declining revenues and rising costs. Dairy farmers who have quit most often cite lack of profitability and excessive workload as reasons for getting out of the business. Distinctive features of dairy farming have exacerbated the economic difficulties:

Labor-intensive. Cows must be milked twice a day, every day; although the actual milking can be done by machines, dairy farming nonetheless requires constant attention throughout the year.

Winter Feed. Dairy farmers face the expense of feeding the cows in the winter, when they may be unable to graze on grass. In Northwest Europe and in the Northeastern United States, farmers generally purchase hay or grain for winter feed. In the western part of the U.S. dairy region, crops are more likely to be grown in the summer and stored for winter feed on the same farm.