Food not only maintains life, it provides the basic requirements for a healthy, productive, creative society. Food scarcity is a threat to peace and stability in many countries today. Agriculture reduces the trade deficit. Farmland is a natural wastewater treatment system. Unpaved land allows the recharge of the ground water that urban residents need.
Farms are stopovers for migratory birds.
Farmers are stewards for 65 percent of non-federal lands and provide habitat for much of the nation s wildlife. An average U.S. farmer produces the food and fiber for 135 people. Each U.S. consumer is supported annually by the output of 1.25 acres. U.S. farmers productivity increases at triple the pace of the U.S. economy. An hour of farm labor produces eight times more than it did 40 years ago.