In North America, agriculture generally has become mechanized and heavily dependent upon an integrated system of supporting agribusinesses, although traditional practices continue in Mexico. In the United States and Canada, most farmers and ranchers depend heavily upon technology, although groups such as the Amish have rejected automation and continue to use animal power for traction. Most farmers practice monoculture, relying upon a single crop for their primary income, and have expanded to very large acreages in order to take advantage of economies of scale. Such farms are referred to in terms of the primary crop, for example, a dairy farm, a cattle ranch, or a wheat farm. Some small farms are run by parttime farmers who also have other occupations.
Within the United States, there were 2,192,000 farms, cultivating a total of 954,000,000 acres, in the 1990's. These farms produced net returns of $44.1 billion. Although farmers represented less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, they successfully fed the country at a high standard of living, produced grain and other products for export, and still maintained a surplus carryover of as much as 2 percent of the total grown.
Regional Crops and Cultivation
Modern farming techniques in the United States and Canada require specialization in a single cash crop. Such specialized farms tend to cluster by region, where the climate and soil quality are appropriate to a given crop.
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Fibrous Plants
In addition to food plants, the production of fibers for textiles is an important part of American agriculture, although such artificial fibers as nylon and polyester have taken a share of the market.
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The Business of Farming
Because of the intense specialization of modern mechanized agriculture, farming has become a business interlocked with a number of supporting businesses.
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See also: NORTH AMERICAN FLORA
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