FAS

USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service Celebrates Its
50th Anniversary
 

Main
 Photo GalleriesTimeline of US Agricultural Trade
Historical Documents
Classic FAS Newsletters


1953

Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower authorized the creation of the Foreign Agricultural Service with the broad goal of expanding agricultural exports. A snap-shot comparison of America's agricultural trade then and now shows just how much the world has changed in the intervening decades.

 

1953 2003
World Population 2.7 billion 6.3 billion
Average number of people fed by a single U.S. farm 26 136
Total U.S. agricultural exports $4.3 billion $57 billion
Agricultural Exports to Japan $397 million $8.3 billion
Agricultural Exports to Canada $270 million $8.6 billion
Agricultural Trade Surplus (Deficit) ($1.5 billion) $12 billion
Bulk commodities as a percent of U.S. agricultural exports 85% 36%
Number of bushels of corn U.S. exported 108 million 1.9 billion
Pounds of beef & veal exported 21.4 million 1.8 billion

 


Last modified: Thursday, October 14, 2004 PM