BUTLER/CUNNINGHAM

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Level 2

Ag Facts for US:

Food Dollar and Fact Book

Selection of Similar Pages

A good introduction to the economics of agriculture is the "Food Dollar", a graphic representation of who gets what out of every dollar spent by the consumer on food. Farmers get about 20% while labor and marketers get about 80%.

The share that farmers get in comparison to marketers has declined steadily over the last thirty years, from about 35% to its present level, even though the total paid for food has increased during the same period.

These figures come from the same source, the USDA Agriculture Fact Books. These books can be accessed from either of the two topics above, by going to the Table of Contents listed at the bottom of each address page; or the Table of Contents can be accessed directly through the button at left.

The Fact Book shows how farm survival now depends on income off the farm for nearly all classes of farms that are not owned by corporations.

Progressive Farmer magazine has assembled some facts that illustrate how comparitively inexpensive food is in the US, yet how some states undermine that advantage through a regressive tax on food.