The second is that the United States has a great deal of flat, fertile land that doesn’t generally require irrigation. In fact, about 50% of the land is arable and another 20% is suitable for pastureland. The third reason for this high productivity is agricultural technology. We’ll be talking more about agricultural technology in the second part of the lecture. But first, let’s look at the major U.S. farm products and where they are raised. Of course, many of the products are raised in every part of the country, but to make things simpler, I’ll give you the major areas of production. You can refer to your map of the major geographical divisions of the United States as you listen if you aren’t already familiar with these divisions.
The eleven major farm products, of course, include both crops and livestock. The United States’ biggest product and agricultural export is cattle and beef. Cattle is raised in the Midwest and, not surprising, in the western Unite States, where low rainfall makes it more difficult to grow crops. Second, dairy products are produced mostly in the northern part of the country, east of the Rockies. The next three major products are all grains, grown largely in the vast middle part of the country. These grains are corn, soybeans, and wheat. Some corn, soybeans, and wheat are raised as food for cattle and for hogs, or pigs, which are the sixth major agricultural product. Hogs are raised primarily in the Midwest. Another major product, poultry and eggs, is commonly raised in the South. Vegetables and fruit, two other major crops, are raised in many parts of the country. However, California is the number one U.S. producer of vegetables and is a leading producer of many kinds of fruit. The last two crops cannot be eaten like the previous ones but are economically important. These are cotton and tobacco. Both cotton and tobacco are raised mostly in the South; cotton, in addition, is raised in the Southwest and in California. Let’s check to make sure you got all these products down, from number one to number eleven in terms of importance: 1) cattle and beef, 2) dairy products, 3) corn, 4)soybeans, 5) wheat, 6) hogs and pork, 7) poultry and eggs, 8) vegetables, 9) fruit, 10) cotton, and 11) tobacco. These are only the major U.S. farm products. As a large country with a temperate climate, the United States produces almost all of the world’s major crops. Now let’s take a look at how technology affects U.S. agriculture.
6
I have already mentioned that technology is one cause of the high productivity of U.S. farmers. Technology in U.S. agriculture can be seen in three different areas. First, agriculture is mechanized: that is, planting and harvesting are almost always done by machine. Second, technology has given farmers new hybrid grains and livestock, which are more productive than the traditional grains and livestock. Third, U.S. farmers freely use chemical fertilizers to increase productivity. Chemical fertilizers are the result of modern agricultural technology.
Since U.S. farms are both large and very productive, we would expect U.S. farmers to be very rich people. Strangely, this is not often the case. The very fact that farmers produce a surplus of meat, grains or dairy products often makes the price of these products lower. The government has tried to solve this problem in two ways. It sometimes tried to restrict the amount of land which farmers plant in certain crops. The government also buys surplus production in order to control prices. Unfortunately, these measures are not always successful. The result is that the typical U.S. farmer is an example of the case where “successful” does not necessarily mean “rich”. I see that’s all the time we have for today. [pause 2 seconds]
Now, you will hear the lecture for the second time.
You now have 60 SECONDS to check your answers. [pause 60 seconds]
You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. [pause 10 minutes]
THAT IS THE END OF THE LISTENING TEST.
[15 second light music]
7
20100701 listening keys 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 origin maintained intellectual disciplines combination academic responsive purpose challenges 21 time zones 22 jet lead 23 natural pattern 24 accuracy 25 exhausted, sleepy, hungry 26 adaptation 27 comfortable 28 speed 29 10 days 30 not suffer from 31 3% 32 temperate climate 33 agricultural technology 34 cattle and beef 35 vegetables 36 cotton and tobacco 37 planting and harvesting 38 chemical fertilizers 39 buy surplus production 40 not rich 10 exportable 11 Jane McCarthy 12 BA1354 13 suitcase 14 leather 15 189264587303 16 F 17 T 18 T 19 F 20 F