The United States has the capacity to grow enough food to feed 1/3 the world. From the grain belt in the upper mid-west to the 1000 acre vegetable farms of Southern California to the southern farming communities of Georgia, we have some of the richest farmland in the world.
The Mississippi River plays a big role in the distribution of grain from the grain belt to the world. Barges can be loaded and pushed 1000 miles down to the Gulf of Mexico. There are many very large silos along the river where corn and grain is stored. The grain is usually trucked to the silos where it stored until shipped by barge.
A lot of the grain is kept inside of the United States for internal use. It’s used for animal feed and for ethanol. With rising fuel costs ethanol has become an impact in our food chain and food prices have risen as a result. Not only has this impacted Americans but internationally our corn exports have dropped as a result of ethanol production. Farmers are enjoying the higher prices they are receiving for their crops after a lot of lean years especially in the 80’s when many farmers lost their family farms.
Every state produces crops and livestock and while most are seasonal, some are year round producers. Citrus products coming from Florida, Texas and California are big business in the winter months. Florida growers produce enough orange juice to supply North America. Also tomatoes are in big demand in the winter months and many come from southern Texas and Florida. Whatever southern farmers cannot provide gets shipped in from South America during the winter months. And during our summer (their winter) we ship a lot of produce down to them.