utilization of primary production

Gruver, Joel (gruverj@css.orst.edu)
Tue, 16 May 95 15:41:00 PDT

Hello SANET readers !
It has been several months since I left my job at the Hampshire
College farm and unsubscribed to SANET. I am now at OSU in the soils division
of the Crop and Soil Science department as a research assistant. It is good
to be back on-line. Things seem a-bit slow... but I guess that is
understandable with farmers busy getting crops in the field and academics
wrapping up a semester. Hopefully I can ask a few questions that will launch
some discussion.

There was an interesting message posted today concerning bio-fuels and the
"food/fuel/fiber" debate... It reminded me of another SANET message posted
several months ago that stated that agriculture makes up 40% of primary
production on earth. Is this accurate ? I would like to know the current
break-down of this total production. What are the major categories ? The
following categories came to mind: Human food (plants and animals destined
for human consumption), animal feed (pets, work animals...), bio-fuels,
non-fuel chemical feed stocks, fiber, construction materials, residues
returned to soil... How does today's breakdown compare to the past ? How
does the break-down vary between developed and developing countries ?
American agriculture vs. other industrialized countries ?

Just how should our agricultural pie be divided ?

Joel Gruver