Displaying my ignorance

Paul Janke · Oct 22, 2010

I have never been east of the Mississippi River, so I have no idea what it's like on the east coast. Are there any of the United States which essentially have no agriculture any more? We do have agriculture here in Montana where we are the fourth largest state and the population (the last time I heard) is about 800,000 people.

bo · Oct 22, 2010

New York state is loaded with all manner of farms of all sizes.

Looney · Oct 22, 2010

If you're that ignorant I suggest you just stay home.

Too Far Gone · Oct 22, 2010

Its pretty out there,but I wouldnt trade 1 acre of mine for 100 out there unless I could sell it for a profit.I guess I like my wide open spaces,and I thank the good Lord I live where I do.

Chris (WA) · Oct 22, 2010

We out west are glad you took your own advise!

Adirondack case guy · Oct 22, 2010

Looney birds were never noted for their intellagence either. I suspect that you are a lot smarter than what you post on this forum. You might find some friends here if you used your intellegence in a positive manor. Remember this very old saying, "What goes around Comes around."

JBMac · Oct 22, 2010

We do a ton of farming here in Florida. It's not just palm trees and beaches. Agriculture is our biggest business. Surprisingly, the biggest cattle ranch east of the Missisipee is here. We grow lots of hay, peanuts and cotton here in North Florida

Adirondack case guy · Oct 22, 2010

I look at it this way, The East coast has it's cities ; the west coast has it's cities; and then there's Chicaco and Detroit. I personally don't want to visit or much less live in any of them. Why is it that most city people want to move to the country and then if they do they complain because they don't have curb service for everything?

Paul Janke · Oct 22, 2010

I guess I need to be a little more specific. Are some of the smallest states to the point that they are entirely urban now? I once heard of somebody from the west lost in one of those tiny states, looking at a map. They said they figured out why they were having a problem. They had not realized the map was full scale.

toadady · Oct 22, 2010

sounds like some of you took the question wrong, is there any state in the usa that has NO agricultre? Rhode Island? I'dd think Maine, but they farm trees, DC is a state, mabey them,

Mike in Ohio · Oct 22, 2010

My guess would be maybe New Jersey, Conneticut, Rhode Island, or Delaware might be the only possibilities to answer your question, but I don't know for sure. Maybe someone will answer your question, Because now I'm interested to know too.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 22, 2010

I live on the Delmarva peninsula, which consists of delaware,eastern shore of maryland and eastern shore of virginia. Our area has built up alot in the past 30 yrs,developments, condos malls highways, you get the picture. But agriculture is still one of our backbones, along with crabbing, oystering raising chickens and so forth. Our other dependency is tourists travelling through our area to get to the ocean.

Paul from MI · Oct 23, 2010

Michigan is loaded with farms. All the common crops and products and lots of specialty crops too. Ag is alive and well here compared to buildiong cars, which is a bit anemic at the moment.

Fawteen · Oct 23, 2010

Somebody mentioned NJ, CT, DE and RI as states that "might be too small to have farms."

Wrong. Can't speak to DE and RI, but I know for a fact that NJ and CT still have relatively large and productive farm operations going.

No multiple thousand acre "spreads" most likely, but lots of small dairy and truck garden operations and a few larger crop-based farms for sure.

MarkB_MI · Oct 23, 2010

District of Columbia, which of course is not a state. Aside from DC, there's agriculture in every state, and depending on your definition of "agriculture" you might even be able to make a case that it exists in the District as well. Not to mention that all the coastal states have active fishing industries.

Most westerners have a fairly narrow idea of what life is like "back east". I did, too, until visiting states like New Jersey, which still has large rural areas.

El Toro · Oct 23, 2010

The Dupont's from Delaware owned a farm near us here in MD. It's near th PA line too. I'm not sure if its still owned by them. It was back in the 1940's & 50's. They bought a lot of farms so they could fox hunt. They called their farm the Foxcatcher Farm. They raised hay and cattle. We had a heifer to get out and get in with their Angus bull. She had a nice black calf. The Duponts also raised a lot of fox hounds and horses used in fox hunting. We only milked 40 cows. One of the men that post on here was a herdsman for large milking operation in WI. Several years ago he and wife and brother stopped by here. They were milking 1200 cows 3 times a day. My late dad would've liked to seen that operation. They use 3 crews working 8 hours around the clock. Hal
PS: The Duponts contribute a lot of money to the economy in DE and there's no sale tax. They made a lot of gun powder and dynamite plus they hire a lot of chemists. The Hercules Powder company is owned by them. They very seldom marry outside the family. A lot of the high schools were named after the Duponts.

bob15 · Oct 23, 2010

What is wrong with visiting a city? You might actually learn something new or see things you'll never see any other place. Or meet new people with completely different backgrounds. The world is a lot bigger and has a lot more to offer than just upstate NY.

Go you NYC and visit the Intrepid, go to Boston and visit the freedom trail and Quincy Market, then a quick ride and visit Battleship Cove. Visit Philly and see Independence Hall and then go over the river and see the battleship New Jersey. I went to Detroit once, with the only stop being the Henry Ford Museum. What a place.

Your statement of most city people want to move to the county is, a stupid comment, at best. If you don't want to visit cities, how can you tell us you know how everyone feels? I've met many a person who lives in the city and has absolutely no desire to live in the suburbs, let alone the country. They are happy living in the city, just like you are in the "sticks".

Get out of your shell and enjoy all areas of this great country, both rural and city alike.

bob

bob15 · Oct 23, 2010

Connecticut is different in that the farms are typically smaller and not spread out very much. Unfortunately, farms are drying up very fast. No money in milk and land is worth more than its worth farming. Western CT has mainly dairy with farms ranging from under a hundred head to one farm close to a 1000 head. Central CT is mainly shade and broadleaf tobacco, which are the most labor intensive and highest valued tobacco in the world. There are a few smaller orchards and potato farms left. One big diary operation left in central CT. Eastern CT has dairy. I cannot speak much for RI, except that towards Newport and the ocean there are a lot of small potato farms still going.

Hope this helps
bob
Connecticut Tobacco

john_Bud · Oct 23, 2010

(quoted from post at 03:32:42 10/23/10) District of Columbia, which of course is not a state. Aside from DC, there's agriculture in every state, and [b:1c11b80839]depending on your definition of "agriculture" [/b:1c11b80839]you might even be able to make a case that it exists in the District as well.

Well they are raising taxes, does that count?

Anonymous-0 · Oct 23, 2010

I'm originally from WV and still get back there regularly. Land is too hilly for much tradional farming, but lots of small farmers combine some open pasture for cattle with hay operations and timber. Orchards in the eastern part, unless they've all been turned into condos for people commuting into DC.
Like you, I had assumed most of the northeast was all built up. I drove through Maine a few years ago, was surprised to see mostly timberland, very few towns at all once you get away from the coast. I recently flew into Newark and attended a wedding in Bethlehem, PA, about a hundred miles west. I was very surprised to see lots of grain farming with lots of combines working to get the crop in.
I also travel in Europe regularly. There is a lot more farming there than you would expect, although strict land use regulations has a lot to do with that.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 23, 2010

The AG industry is still alive and doing fairly well here in Kentucky. Of course we have the standard fare of corn, soybeans, and wheat. Ky is still one of the top producers of tobacco, especially Burley, albeit not nearly the pounds produced as in years past. Since the demise of the tobacco quota system, and the decrease of demand for tobacco, many Ky farmers are getting into other "crops". Blueberries as an example. There has been a great many wineries established in recent years.

I've heard conflicting numbers, but Ky is in the top 2 or 3 as far as beef cattle in the eastern half of the US. And then there's the horse industry....

Jerry/MT · Oct 23, 2010

I had that misconception but in my working life I traveled a bit to the Eastern part of the country and was surprised to see the open space. I saw them growing tobacco in the Conneticut (sp?) River valley near Hartford. I"ve flown over New York State and seen miles and miles of open space.the same thing around Virginia snd the SE. What has happened is that farmland is being developed for non-farm uses but it"s not all gone.

It"s happening here in Western Montana (like around Kalispel and Missoula) but not at the rate it"s happening back East.

The population is growing and people have to live somewhere. Farm productivity is growing also more food can be grown from the same ground. It"s unfortunate that prime agricultural land is sacrificed for development, however. That"s going to bite us one of these days.

kyhayman · Oct 23, 2010

I've had the opportunity to travel with our county cattlemen's association to most of the states in the US and the western Canadian provinces. In every state I've had the opportunity to visit (Arizona and Wyoming being the only two I've missed in the continental US) there are ample farms. They are all different, depending on rainfall, soils, and markets but they are alive and well. One of the most commom misconceptions I've found in the west is that the east is all people and pavement. The main difference being animal density. The last time I was in Montana it was hard for me to comprehend the stocking rates in some places of dozens of acres per cow, where here I'm stocked at 1 cow calf pair per 2 acres for 10 months of grazing and still cut some hay off those pastures.

Spook · Oct 23, 2010

Agriculture used to be the 3rd largest industry in Michigan, but with tourism and autos down, it might be #1.

cadet trooper · Oct 23, 2010

For the most part all areas can be interesting it is as usual the people that make or break it.

Adirondack case guy · Oct 23, 2010

Been to those places and was aboard the COLE when it was being built at New Port Dry Docks. Wife and daughter attended its comissioning in Jacksonville Florida. We've been around. Just don't like the way that city folks come up here, buy property and then try to dictate how we who were born and brought up here should live.

Displaying my ignorance

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads