Colonial America was a farming society.  As of 1776,  90%  of Americans were farmers. Today, less than 1% of Americans claim farming as their occupation.  The colonists had only primitive transportation systems, so there was no question of shipping food over long distances. Today, food arrives at our grocery stores from all over the United States and many foreign countries. Early farmers practiced crop rotation to improve their soil and control pests. Modern farmers rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The hard-working immigrants who settled the plains of America in the 1800s were delighted with the productive agricultural land they found there. They established small, close-knit farming communities where neighbors helped each other build their barns and plant and harvest their crops each year.  Meanwhile,  other immigrants were drawn to the growing American cities to work in the great factories of the Industrial Revolution.

Mechanization in the form of farm machinery led to greater effciency of food production. Because of this, the size of the average farm grew larger, as the new machinery allowed a single family to farm more acreage. Improved transportation meant that grains and farm animals could be shipped long distances to provide the growing city populations with food. New methods of food preservation, processing, and storage were invented to deal with the increasing complexity of the food distribution system. Over time, America changed from a rural economy to an urban economy that depended on fewer and fewer farmers to provide food.

Our food production system today can be more accurately described as an industry,  with agriculture playing a relatively small role. Only about 20 cents of every food dollar goes to the farmers and ranchers who produce the food.  The rest goes to industries that are responsible for processing,  distributing,  and marketing our foods.  Farms often consist of large commercial tracts that grow only a single crop.  Such monoculture systems encourage the development of crop-specific pests,  which necessitates the use of chemical pesticides.  A pig that is destined to become bacon on American breakfast tables spends its entire short life in a confined pen,  packed in so tightly that its tail is clipped to prevent it from being bitten of by other pigs. Doses of antibiotics are routinely administered to food animals to prevent the spread of diseases that are much more likely to occur in such tight quarters. Dairy cows receive hormones in order to increase their milk production.  The industries that provide agricultural chemicals,  seed,  and antibiotics play an essential and powerful role in our food system.

The food processing industry employs thousands of people and consists of diverse and widespread manufacturing plants.

These plants process meats, agricultural products, and chemicals to produce the frozen pizzas and countless other food items that we purchase at our grocery stores.  And how do all these food items end up on our grocery shelves?  Stocking those shelves requires a complex system of wholesalers,  refrigerated storage units, and shipping facilities that can respond quickly to seasonal food variations and consumer demands.  Finally,  there are the countless business outlets where we purchase our foods, from the corner coffee stand to the mega-grocery store.

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Terry L. Smith
TERRY L.  SMITH is a biostatistician and science writer who
lives in Lawrence, Kansas. She has an M.S. in biometry from the
University of Texas School of Public Health. Smith is the author of
numerous books and articles relating to human health, including
Asthma in Chelsea House’s Genes and Disease series.