What Is Ag Week?
It's a week to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and countless other across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture.
What Is Ag Week All About?
Ag Week is about recognizing - and celebrating - the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Week program encourages every American to:
• Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
• Value the essential role of agriculture in the economy.
• Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.
Why Celebrate Agriculture?
Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis. But too few people truly understand this contribution. Each American farmer feeds 156 people ... a dramatic increase from 25 people in the 1960s. Quite simply, American agriculture is doing more - and doing it better. As the world population soars, there is an even greater demand for the food and fiber produced in the United States.
Fun Facts:
Udderly Amazing
• In a year's time a dairy cow produces 1,500 gallons or 6,000 quarts of milk. A Jersey cow will give as much as 3 to 4 gallons or around 16 quarts of milk each day.
• Dairy cows provide us with milk and milk by-products like cheese, butter, and ice cream. In addition, milk is also used to manufacture glue, paint, and plastics.
• Straight from the cow, the temperature of cow's milk is about 97 degrees Fahrenheit.
• The average U.S. dairy cow produces 22.5 quarts of milk each day. That's about 16,000 glasses of milk per year - enough for about 40 people. One cow can give 200,000 glasses of milk in a lifetime.
• It takes approximately 1.4 gallons of milk to make 1 gallon of ice cream.
• Cheese was first made over 4,000 years ago in Asia.
• A cow has 4 stomachs. They are: the rumen, where the food is first stored, the reticulum where food that has been more thoroughly chewed is stored once the cow has chewed the cud and has swallowed it; the omasum where extra water is squeezed out, and finally the food goes to the abomasum. Some of the digested food is then stored in the cow's udder where it is made into milk.
• Cows are ruminants or cud-chewing animals eating hay, corn, soybeans, grass, wheat, and ensilage. Each cow eats 20 to 25 pounds of grain, 40 to 60 pounds of ensilage, 30 pounds of hay and drinks about 15 to 25 gallons of water a day.
• Cows are sedentary animals spending up to 8 hours a day chewing the cud while standing still or lying down to rest after grazing. When going to be milked, a certain cow in an established herd always leads the others with the weaker and older cattle trailing behind the group.
• A typical, full grown Holstein cow weighs about 1,400 pounds and produces 60 pounds of milk per day.
• One day's production is 2.6 pounds of butter or 7 gallons of milk or 6 pounds of cheese.
• A dairy cow consumes 35 gallons of water, 20 pounds of grain and concentrated feed and 35 pounds of hay or silage (a mixture of corn and grass) in just one day.
• It usually takes about 20 minutes for a cow to be milked. On average a cow is milked 2 to 3 times a day.
• Hamburger meat from a single steer will make about 720 quarter pound hamburger patties. That's enough for a family of 4 to enjoy hamburgers each day for nearly 6 months.
New Ways to Help the Planet
• Farmers and ranchers provide food and habitat for 75% of the nations wildlife.
• Plant and animal biotechnology have resulted in new antibodies for immunizations. Agriculture has also contributed to research that has helped develop surgical techniques and pharmaceuticals that help save lives.
• Ethanol and new bio-diesel fuels made from corn, soybeans and other grains are beneficial to the environment and helps contribute to energy independence for the U.S.
Agriculture is Part of Your Life
• Products we use in our everyday lives come from plant and animal byproducts produced by America's farmers and ranchers: - Health care: Pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, ointments, latex gloves, x-ray film, gelatin for capsules and heart valves.
• Construction: Lumber, paints, brushes, tar paper, dry wall and tool handles.
• Transportation: Fuel, lubricants, antifreeze, tires and upholstery.
• Manufacturing: Adhesives, solvents and detergents. Printing: Paper, ink and film.
• Personal Care Products: Shampoo, cosmetics, lotions, finger nail polish and toothpaste. Education: Crayons, textbooks, chalk, desks, pencils and paper.
• Sports: Uniforms, baseball bats, leather equipment and shoes.
5 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables A Day
• Onions contain a mild antibiotic that fights infections, soothes burns, tames bee stings and relieves the itch of athletes foot.
• Archeologists have found evidence that humans have enjoyed eating apples since 6500 B.C. Each of us eats more than 19 pounds of apples annually.
• Grapes are one of the oldest cultivated fruits. They have been around for more than 8,000 years.
• Americans eat about 125 pounds of potatoes a year, about half from fresh potatoes and half in processed foods.
Don't Be Sheepish
• There are 914 different breeds of sheep in the world. There are 35 breeds in the U.S.
• Wool is a natural fiber grown from sheep.
• The steps to making some of your favorite clothes:
o Sheep are sheared in the spring, their wool is removed in one piece called a fleece.
o Next, the fleece is washed in big tubs to remove dirt, grease and grass, this process is called scouring.
o The clean, dry wool is then carded. Carding means to comb the wool to straighten the fibers.
o The next process is called spinning. This is when the wool will be spun into yarn.
o Finally, the yarn is knitted or woven into fabric.
Snack Time
• It takes a combine 9 seconds to harvest enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread.
• Americans consume 1.12 billion pounds of popcorn a year.
• Soybean oil is the most widely used edible oil in the United States; you can find it in mayonnaise, salad dressing, process cheese products, dessert frostings and much more.
• Peanuts are not actually nuts. Peanuts, like soybeans, are members of the legume family.
• There are 340 million M&M's produced daily.
You May Find this "Corny"
• One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of pop.
• There are about 600 kernels on each ear of corn.
• Farmers grow corn on every continent except Antarctica.
• Each tassel on a corn plant releases as many as 5 million grains of pollen.
America's Bread Basket
• Each American consumers, on average, 53 pounds of bread per year.
• Assuming a sandwich was eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it would take 168 days to eat the amount of bread produced from one bushel of wheat.
• A family of four could live for 10 years off the bread produced by one acre of wheat.
• One bushel of wheat will produce 73 one-pound loaves of bread.
• In 1997, Kansas's wheat farmers produced enough wheat to make 36.5 billion loaves of bread, or enough to provide each person on earth with 6 loaves of bread.
• Farmers receive approximately 5 cents (or less) from each loaf of bread sold.
Piggy, Piggy
• Pigs can't sweat. Pigs have no sweat glands, that is why they roll around in mud to cool off.
• Heart valves from hogs are used to replace damaged or diseased human heart valves.
• A pig can run a 7-minute mile.
• A baby pig, or piglet, weighs about 3 1/2 pounds at birth and will double its weight in just 7 days.
We Depend on Each Other
• Farmers use computers designed and built in cities to track market information, maintain balance spreadsheets, and monitor weather satellites.
• The environment and everyone in it benefits from research on biodegradable plant products that break down easily in landfills.
• Agriculture land provides food and habitat for 75% of the nation's wildlife. Deer, moose, fowl and other species have shown significant population increases in the past several years.
• Genetic engineering with plants and animals has resulted in new antibodies for immunizations. Other research has developed surgical techniques and pharmaceuticals from agriculture that help save lives.
• Ethanol and new bio-diesel fuels made from corn and other grains are beneficial to the environment and promote energy security.
Soybeans
• Soy crayons have been created to replace toxic petroleum-wax crayons, soy crayons are sager to use, brighter in color, and less expensive to produce.
• One acre (43,560 square feet) of soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons.
• Soybean oil is the most widely used vegetable oil. It is found in margarine's, salad dressings, canned foods, sauces, bakery goods, and processed fried foods.
Crazy about Cotton
• U.S. textile mills presently convert over half ot the cotton they use into clothing.
• The majority of cotton is used for men's and boys' clothing, with jeans, underwear, and shirts topping the list.
• If all of the cotton produced annually in the U.S. were used to make one product, such as blue jeans, it would make 5 Billion pair.
• One bale of cotton can produce 1,217 men's t-shirts or 313,600 one-hundred dollar ($100) bills.
• Cotton's home uses range from bedspreads to window shades. It is by far the dominant fiber in towels and washcloths. Cotton is also popular in sheets and pillowcases.
• Industrial products containing cotton include wall coverings, book bindings, and zipper tapes. The biggest cotton users in the this category are manufacturers of medical supplies, industrial thread, and tarpaulins.
• Cotton is a food crop. Almost 200 million gallons of cottonseed oil are used in food products such as margarine and salad dressing. Cottonseed and cottonseed meal are used in feed for livestock and poultry. And even products such as toothpaste, ice cream, and the paper money used to buy them contain by-products of the cotton seed.
• The Cotton Belt covers the southern half of the United States, reaching from Virginia to California. Texas is the top cotton-producing state, harvesting about one-third of the crop each year.
The Food We Eat
• In 1996, each American consumed an average of 77 pounds more of commercially grown vegetables than in 1970, 63 pounds more grain products, 54 pounds more fruits, 32 pounds more poultry, 10 gallons more milk lower in fat than whole milk, 20.5 pounds less red meat, 73 fewer eggs, and 17 gallons less whole milk.
• It takes just 40 days for most Americans to earn enough money to pay for their food supply for the entire year. In comparison with the 129 days it takes the average American to earn enough money to pay federal, state and local taxes for the year.
• More than 96 billion pounds of edible "surplus" food is thrown away in the U.S. Each year. It is estimated that almost 27% of our food supply is wasted.
• Americans are eating about 14 pounds of turkey a piece each year, more than double the rate 20 years ago.
Corn Poppin' Facts
Popcorn pops because water is stored in a small circle of soft starch in each kernel. As the kernel is heated, the water heats, the droplet of moisture turns to steam and the steam builds up pressure until the kernel finally explodes to many times its original volume.
• Americans today consume 17.3 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year! The average American eats about 68 quarts!
• While the first breakfast cereal was made by adding sugar and milk to popped popcorn, a shortage of baking flours after World War II forced breadmakers to substitute up to 25% of wheat flour with ground popped popcorn. Over the years, popcorn also has been used as an ingredient in pudding, candy, soup, salad and entrees.
• Popcorn's nutritional value comes from the fact that, like other cereal grains, its primary function is to provide the body with heat and energy.
• Microwave popcorn is the same as other popcorn except the kernels are usually larger and the packaging is designed for maximum popability.
Cherrific!
• The same chemicals that give tart cherries their color may relieve pain better than aspirin and ibuprofen in humans.
• Eating about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory pain and headache pain.
• There are about 7,000 cherries on an average tart cherry tree (the number varies depending on the age of the tree, weather and growing conditions). It takes about 250 cherries to make a cherry pie, so each tree could produce enough cherries for 28 pies!
• Today, in Michigan, there are almost 4 million cherry trees which annually produce 150 to 200 pounds of tart cherries.
Head Strong
• Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family.
• Darker Green lettuce leaves are more nutritious than lighter green leaves.
• Americans eat about 30 pounds of lettuce every year. That's about five times more than what we ate in the early 1900s.
• In the United States, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable.
• Almost all lettuce is packed right in the field.
• About 25% of all iceberg lettuce is made into fresh cut salads.
What's up Doc?
• The plant pigment that gives carrots and other vegetables their vivid orange color is Beta-Carotene. Fruits and Vegetables that are yellow/orange in color contain Beta-Carotene and carrots are one of the richest in this nutrient. Our bodies convert Beta-Carotene into Vitamin A.
• The bright orange color of carrots tell you they're an excellent source of Vitamin A which is important for good eyesight, especially at night. Vitamin A helps your body fight infection, and keeps your skin and hair healthy!
Berry, Berry Good for You!
• Blueberries are the second most popular berry in the United States.
• Michigan and New Jersey produce 66% of all the blueberries in the United States, followed by North Carolina, Oregon and Washington.
• Over 200 million pounds of blueberries are grown every year in North America.
• Blueberries are first picked by hand to gather the best of the early fruit. Later, if the fruit is to be mechanically harvested, a harvesting machine goes through the field and gently shakes each bush so only the ripe blueberries drop off.
• Blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and fiber.
Cracking Up
• In the U.S. in 1998, hens produced 6,657,000,000 dozen eggs - that's 6.657 billion dozen! After these eggs were laid, about two-thirds were sold in the shell and one third of them were broken - not by accident, but on purpose. Because after the eggs are broken out of their shells, they can be made into liquid, frozen, dried and specialty egg products.
• The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavors and odors. Storing them in their cartons helps keep them fresh!
• Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.
• Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yolked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all.
• It takes 24 to 26 hours for a hen to produce an egg; there is 30 minutes between each egg-producing cycle.
• About 240 million laying hens produce about 5.5 billion dozen eggs per year in the United States.
• Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
Going Bananas!
• There are over 500 different types of bananas. That means if you ate a different kind of banana everyday, it would take almost a year and a half to eat every one!
• Although generally regarded as a tree, this large tropical plant is really an herb. That means it does not have a woody trunk like a tree. The stalk is composed of leaf sheaths that overlap each other and grow from an underground stem called a rhizome.
• The banana plant can grow as high as 20 feet tall. That's as big as a two-story house!
• Bananas are about 99.5% fat free.
• Bananas are a great source of potassium. Potassium helps build muscle power and keeps your body fluids in balance.
• Banana's are most likely the first fruit ever to be grown on a farm.
Macaroni Mania
• Pasta is one of America's favorite foods. Last year, 1.3 million pounds of pasta were sold in American grocery stores. If you lined up 1.3 million pounds of 16 oz. spaghetti packages, it could circle the Earth's equator almost nine times!
• Noodles got their start in China, not Italy as many people might think.
• Pasta made its way to the New World through the English who found it while traveling through Italy. The English made pasta by cooking it for about a half an hour and then smothering it with cream sauce and cheese. This was the beginning of Macaroni and Cheese!
• America's first large pasta factory was built in Brooklyn, New York in 1848 by a Frenchman who would spread out his spaghetti strands on the roof to dry in the sunshine.
An Apple a Day
• Apples are a member of the rose family.
• Washington state grows the most apples in the U.S.
• The apples from one tree can fill 20 boxes every year.
• Fresh apples float because 25 percent of their volume is air.
• In the winter, apple trees need to "rest" for about 900-1,000 hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit in order to flower and fruit properly.
• If you grew 100 apple trees from the seeds of one tree, they would all be different.
• Apples are high in fiber.
• There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world.
Green Greek Goddess
• The name asparagus comes from the Greek language and means "sprout" or "shoot."
• Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
• Asparagus is related to onions, leeks, and garlic.
• One of the most popular varieties of green asparagus is named after Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington.
• California grows about 70% of all the asparagus grown in the United States.
• More than 50,000 tons of asparagus are grown in California every year.
Pumpkin Eater
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites!
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• Pumpkins are 90% water.
• Pumpkins are used for feed for animals.
• Pumpkin seeds can be roasted as a snack.
• Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.
• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• The name "pumpkin" originated from "pepon", the Greek word for "large melon."
• Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
Stacking Up!
• The batter used to make pancakes is almost exactly the same as the batter used to make regular cakes. The pancake batter is just a little thinner.
• Pancakes have become so popular, that people don't just eat them for breakfast anymore. Many people like to eat pancakes for dinner!
• On Pancake Day in Newfoundland (the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of lent), items are placed in the pancake batter before it is cooked to foretell the future for family members. If a boy received an item for a trade, it meant he would enter that trade. If a girl received an item for a trade, it meant she would marry a person from that trade.
Pretty Peachy
o Peaches are a good source of Vitamin C.
o The United States provides about one-fourth (25%) of the world's total supply of fresh peaches.
o The peach is a member of the rose family and will have a sweet fragrance when ripe.
o Most peaches that are imported to the United States during winter months come from Chile.
o Peaches are the third most popular fruit grown in America.
Pizza Perfect
o Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, or 350 slices per second.
o Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year.
o Pepperoni is America's favorite topping (36 percent of all pizza orders we eat approximately 251,770,000 pounds a year!
o In America, anchovies always rank last on the list of favorite toppings.
o In 1830 pizza truly began with the opening of the world's first pizzeria. Port' Alba, the pizzas were cooked in an oven lined with lava from Mount Vesuvius, a volcano located on the Bay of Naples.
o Pizza makers have tried virtually every type of food on pizzas, including peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs and mashed potatoes!
o According to Domino's, some of the more popular international toppings are pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu in India, squid (octopus) and Mayou Jaga (mayonnaise, potato and bacon) in Japan, and green peas in Brazil. In Russia, they serve pizza covered with mockba, which is a combination of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon and onions. In France, a popular combo is called the Flambee, with bacon, onion and fresh cream.
o There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States.
o Approximately 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year.
Broccoli Basics
o We are eating 900% more broccoli than we did 20 years ago.
o In 1970, consumption of broccoli was only a half a pound per person. Today, the average person in the United States eats four and one half pounds a year.
o In the United States, broccoli was probably first grown by immigrants from Italy in home gardens in Brooklyn, New York. In 1923, a group of Italian vegetable farmers in Northern California started to grow broccoli commercially and in a few years they were shipping fresh broccoli to Boston and New York.
Pick a Pepper
o The most popular sweet pepper in the United States is the bell pepper.
o Most peppers belong to the Capsicum annuum species.
o As bell peppers mature, their color changes from green to red and they become sweeter.
o Chile peppers are hot.
o Dried chile pepper wreaths are called "Ristras" - a symbol of plenty and hope.
It's The Bees Knees
• A hive of bees flies over 55,000 miles to bring you one pound of honey. A honey bee can fly 15 miles per hour.
• Honey bees must tap two million flowers to make one pound of honey. Each worker honey bee makes 1/12th teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
• Honey bees visit 50-100 flowers during one honey collecting trip.
• Bees have been producing honey from flowering plants for at least 10 million years! And maybe even as long as 20 million years!
• Flowers and other blossoming plants have nectarines that produce sugary nectar. Worker bees suck up the nectar and water and store it in a special honey stomach. When the stomach is full the bee returns to the hive and puts the nectar in an empty honeycomb. Natural chemicals from the bee's head glands and the evaporation of the water from the nectar change the nectar into honey.
• In one day a honey bee can fly 12 miles and pollinate up to 10,000 flowers.
• Honeybee workers must visit 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.
Fabulous Forests
• An acre of trees can remove about 13 tons of dust and gases every year from the surrounding environment.
• Almost a third of the world's total land area is covered by forests.
• Some tissue-making machines can produce as many as 6000 feet of toilet tissue every minute out of trees.
• About 1.5 million tons of ground cocoa beans from the tropical tree are used each year to make chocolate and cocoa products. That's greater than the weight of more than 300,000 elephants!
• Every year in the United States each person uses the equivalent of one tree, 100 feet tall and 16 inches in diameter, to fulfill their wood and paper needs.
• Thirty to 40 gallons of sugar maple sap must be boiled down to make just one gallon of maple syrup.
• Many farmers grow more than just grains, vegetable and livestock. Some farmers grow trees. This is called a woodlot. A woodlot is not an original forest, because the timber has been cut down before. Sometimes the trees in a woodlot have been cut down four, five, or even six times. After the trees have been cut down, the farmer lets them grow up again, until they are big enough to be harvested once more.
• Not only is the wood on woodlots good to sell to timber companies to make paper, etc., but the timber can also be useful on the farm. The farmer can cut down the timber and use it to build fences, barns, or other buildings. Some farmers grow specialized woodlots that are used for a specific purpose. A woodlot may be used to harvest maple syrup or as a Christmas tree farm.
