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List out the changes that have taken place in farming over the last 20years. Write a report

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Eight major factors that have changed agriculture in the last 50 years

Farm equipment like this early cotton stripper has gone through significant change over the past fifty years as have other aspects of agriculture<p>Farm equipment, like this early cotton stripper, has gone through significant change over the past fifty years, as have other aspects of agriculture.</p>

In 1962, one farmer fed 25.8 persons. In the 50 years since, he has taken on considerably more responsibility and now feeds 155. 50 years of change mean farmers can produce more food and fiber on fewer acres and with fewer nutrient inputs.

Ron Smith 1 | Aug 05, 2016

With 50 years of change farmers can now produce more food and fiber on fewer acres and with fewer nutrient inputs. “Corn yields in 1950 averaged 40 bushels per acre,” says Travis Miller, associate department head, Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University. “More recently, average corn yield was more than 160 bushels. Soybeans increased from 22 bushels in 1950 to 40-plus bushels in 1980.”

Miller took the opportunity to reminisce a bit during the grain session of the 50thAnnual Blackland Income Growth Conference recently in Waco.

“I’ve never done this research before,” he admitted, “but it is fascinating,” to look at the changes in agriculture that have paralleled the history of the B.I.G Conference.

Miller said some of the key advancements include: Pest management through genetically modified plants; institution of integrated pest management programs; plant breeding that allows high plant populations; precision planting equipment; better fertilizer formulations and application equipment; global positioning system agriculture; larger, faster and more efficient tractors and combines; mapping plant genomes that allows more rapid breeding; rapid and more accurate soil testing; and semi-dwarf wheat varieties.

KEY CHANGES

Miller listed some of the key advancements he turned up in his research.

1. In 1950, U.S. corn acreage totaled about 82 million. That figured dropped to 59 million in the late 60s but hit 90 million last year. Soybean acreage has increased from 18 million in 1950 to 80 million by 2007. Total corn production in 1950 totaled 2.7 billion bushels from those 82 billion acres. In 2009, on similar acreage, corn production topped 13 billion bushels. “That’s a 430 percent increase,” Miller said.

2. Soybeans and wheat have also seen significant production increases. Soybean acreage increased from 15 million in the 1950s to 74 million in 2011. Yield increased by 277 percent over that time. Wheat jumped from 71.3 million bushels in 1950 to just more than 1 billion bushels in the last few years. And that increase comes from about 24 percent fewer acres.

3. Wheat producers have benefitted from semi-dwarf varieties, Hessian-fly, cereal-mite, and greenbug resistance. The wheat genome is 95 percent sequenced and with more investment, we will see significant advancements.”

4. He said sorghum production has improved with yield increasing from 50 bushels per acre to about 63 bushels per acre. Significant advances in sorghum include the Stay-Green trait, developed in 1977. Greenbug resistance came along in 1984. Seed safeners and downy mildew resistance have also improved sorghum production, and Miller said non-GMO herbicide tolerance may soon be commercially available.

5. The Texas Blacklands, the focus for the annual conference, has witnessed a lot of ups and down with acreage and production, Miller said. “We harvested 700,000 acres of wheat in 2007.” That number dropped significantly last year because of the devastating drought. Weather has played a big role in yields for Blacklands crops through the years. “One of the biggest challenges faced by Blacklands farmers is the variability of crop yield due to weather.”

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