Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230057
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE HUNNINGS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Of course, our ignorance makes sense to a degree. Fewer than five out of every 100 Americans grow up on a farm. Many of us think food simply comes from a room in the back of the grocery store.
In celebration of Virginia Agriculture Week, maybe you would like to increase your Ag IQ. The following quiz is aimed at teaching all of us a little bit more about this important industry. (The answers are at the bottom of this page.)
T F 1. One acre of land is about the size of a football field.
T F 2. An estimated one in four Virginians owe their jobs to agriculture.
T F 3. One bale of cotton can produce 330 pairs of denim jeans.
T F 4. Over 90 percent of the soybean meal produced is used to feed people.
T F 5. Corn, wheat and oats are the primary grains produced for the cash market in Virginia.
T F 6. Commercial fishing and seafood processing are Virginia's oldest industries.
T F 7. One dairy cow may produce 62 glasses of milk daily.
T F 8. The average American uses approximately 600 pounds of paper a year.
T F 9. Fruits and vegetable crops generate more jobs per acre than any other crop in Virginia.
T F 10. A single chicken lays about 365 eggs a year.
T F 11. It takes a newborn calf about five years to become fully grown.
T F 12. To reach a market weight of 220 pounds, a pig must eat 220 pounds of feed.
T F 13. It takes 16 pounds of wool, or two fleeces, to make eight medium-weight wool suits.
T F 14. We spend less than 17 percent of our incomes on food in the U.S., while consumers in other countries spend as much as 60 to 70 percent of their incomes on food.
T F 1 5. Farming and agribusiness combined employ more than 23 million people, or 22 percent, of America's total labor force.
Answers to Ag IQ test:
1. True. An acre is 43,560 square feet
2. True. Approximately 1,000 jobs and more than 2,000 industries comprise the agribusiness field
3. True. A bale weighs 500 pounds and can produce over 3,000 baby diapers
4. False. Soybean meal is primarily a livestock feed;
5. False. Corn, wheat and barley, grown primarily in eastern Virginia, are the main cash market grains
6. True. Virginia ranks third in the U.S. in total seafood landings
7. True. A 1,500 pound dairy cow consumes over 50 pounds of dry matter a day
8. True. A cord of wood (eight feet long, four feet high and four feet deep) produces 1,000-2,000 pounds of paper
9. True. Virginia grows more than 50,000 acres of vegetable crops each year
10. False. Layers will lay an average of 250 eggs annually, almost double the production 40 years ago
11. False. From birth of the calf until it's beef on the table takes from 1 1/2 to 2 years
12. False. It takes approximately 870 pounds of food for a hog to reach market weight of 220 pounds
13. True. An expert sheep shearer can clip 125 sheep a day
14. True. Food in the U.S. is increasingly a bargain. In 1960, 20 percent of U.S. income went for food
15. True. Agriculture is this country's single largest employer.
Joe Hunnings is the Virginia Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture in the Montgomery County Extension Office in Christiansburg. If you have questions, call him at 382-5790.
by CNB