Maps of Beef Population in the U.s.

Nutrient production

American agriculture in 1922

Let's starting time with a flake of fun. This gorgeous map, constitute by Redditor Sverdrupian, was published by the meatpacking firm Armour and Company in 1922. Information technology purports to bear witness the principal agricultural products beyond the country at that time. Records were worse so, and the mapmakers acknowledge the difficulty of the project. "It has been impossible to locate with geographic accuracy within state lines, all of the principal products of some of u.s.a.," they write. "Nonetheless, the master products of each state are indicated, and the geographic location of the principal products in the divisions of the United states of america have been effected with a fair caste of accuracy." The wide bulletin of the map, though, is right at the pinnacle: America'due south strength as a nation was substantially derived from its strength every bit an agricultural power. The huge area of American land and the vast number of climates across the country immune the U.s.a. to grow a more diverse set of crops and raise more kinds of animals than our competitors. "The United States is the most self-sustaining nation in the earth," Armour and Co brag.

Nosotros accept fewer people working in agriculture now

We have fewer people working in agriculture now

Vox

Nosotros accept fewer people working in agriculture now

So this is a chart, not a map (that'll happen occasionally in this list). But what it shows is kind of astonishing. In 1840, almost 70 per centum of the American labor force worked in agriculture. America'south economy was, flatly, about agronomics. But that was changing — and fast. By 2000, barely two percent of the American labor strength worked in agriculture. The United states economy had transformed totally.

And we keep losing farms

And we go along losing farms

Equally farmers have been disappearing, and so have farms. In this map, each red dot is 20 farms that are no more, and each bluish dot represents 20 new farms. Note the losses in Kentucky and Tennessee and the gains in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In just five years, the United states of america experienced a net loss of 90,000 farms.

But we keep growing more than food

But we keep growing more food

Vox

But we keep growing more than food

The story of the decline in farm labor and farms looks, at first glance, like the story of the decline in farming. Just it'southward not. This nautical chart only goes back to 1948 but its message is articulate: the U.s. is producing more food than ever before. And so even every bit the share of the workforce laboring on farms has fallen from almost everyone to nearly no one, the absolute quantity of crops and meats has risen. That's because farming has seen incredible productivity improvements. From better seeds to automated irrigation systems to pesticides to tractors, an industry that used to require tremendous manpower is now built on powerful technologies. Forget welcoming our robot overlords. They're feeding u.s..

Where are people making money from crops and where from livestock?

Cartographer Bill Rankin used USDA data to build this beautiful map of the value of agriculture produced around the country. The greener areas are the near valuable for ingather production. The redder areas are the nearly valuable for raising livestock. California is, unsurprisingly, the site of much of the most valuable country for crops. But Wisconsin and Northward Carolina are making more money off livestock than many realize.

Which crops are harvested where?

This map lays out where crops are existence grown across the country. Many areas these days are focusing well-nigh exclusively on one crop — a practice called monoculture. Corn covers more land in the U.s.a. than any other crop. Some counties are up to 63 percent covered in corn. And 2d identify? Soybeans. People aren't growing the stuff just for tofu, either. The majority of American soy becomes feed for livestock.

Cows. Are. Everywhere.

If there is one thing to conclude from this map, it'south that cows are pretty much everywhere. Just wait at all that pink. Cattle are all over, from sea to shining sea, except for the deserts of the Southwest and some remote mountains in upper New York state and Due west Virginia. Only cows aren't the only farm animals of involvement. Pigs and chickens also make an impressive showing, just with a more regional pattern. They're popular east of Colorado, with pigs gathered in the North and chickens in the Southward. California also has a craven chugalug. And bank check out that bluish hulk in Texas: that's sheep and goats.

The economics of farming

Average sales by farm

Average sales past farm

This map shows how much money each subcontract is making on average, and there is huge variation. Some are selling less than $10,000 in goods a year. But others are selling more than $750,000. How do they go so productive? The methods vary. That area along the Mississippi is raking in the dough with soy and cotton wool. The rich region in Texas is doing it through cattle. Part of N Carolina is making adept coin off of a multifariousness of livestock. And California is doing well with a mix of livestock, produce, and nuts.

Farmers are getting older

In America today, the average principal farm operator is 58 years old, nearing the age of retirement. And that historic period has been getting older and older each year for some fourth dimension now. Co-ordinate to the USDA, in 2012 about a tertiary of farmers were older than 65. Just that doesn't mean that these people are necessarily running gigantic operations. The average farm is the Us is pocket-size. Almost 75 per centum of farms make less than $50,000 a year.

A lot of farmers aren't making a living off of their farms

Many farm operators aren't making their living from farming. For the most part that'south considering well-nigh farms are modest, and only a few are big. For farms that bring in less than $350,000 a year, people are well-nigh likely making their living through some other means. And about half of farms sell less than $x,000 of goods a twelvemonth, but they're not producing much to sell either. And then who is making most of the food? The big farms. According to the United states of america Section of Agronomics's most recent survey in 2012, most iv percent of US farms currently produce 66 percent of subcontract products, by value.

Here are the greenbacks crops

Hither are the cash crops

Corn is king. This pie nautical chart shows how much coin the U.s.a.'south harvests bring in, and the conclusion is unmistakable: corn, corn, corn. Corn is responsible for most a third of crop greenbacks receipts, with some $64 billion a year. And together, corn and soybeans make up almost half of America's crop revenues.

Sentinel corn eat sunlight, from infinite

Sentinel corn consume sunlight, from space

This GIF shows how much photosynthesis is taking place in February, May, Baronial, and November, averaged across five years. You can meet the growing season come and get, specially the peak in the corn belt in Baronial. How do yous measure photosynthesis? Plants performing photosynthesis absorb light from the sunday, merely they also emit a small fraction of that calorie-free as a fluorescent glow. Human being eyes aren't sensitive enough to encounter the glow, but instruments on a item European meteorological satellite are. NASA analyzed the data ready, which includes the entire World, and found that the United states corn belt during corn season does more photosynthesis than anywhere else on the planet. The assay also showed that previous models of Earth's carbon cycle had underestimated the corn belt'southward productivity by roughly 50 per centum.

Food, policy, and wellness

GMO labeling

This map shows whether foods that include genetically modified ingredients, such as GMO corn and soy, are required by law to exist labeled. (Countries colored the palest greenish have no labeling regulations. Ones in darker greens have labeling laws of increasing stringency. Bluish countries ban GMO foods altogether.) There'due south no scientific bear witness that a GMO food is more dangerous to someone'due south health than a non-GMO food. Only this is i of those cases where all around the world the scientific data is the same, but cultural attitudes about it could not be more different. For example, the Us doesn't require any GMO labeling at all. But Europe completely disagrees.

Total meat consumption

Full meat consumption

Who's eating meat? This map shows how much meat gets consumed in each country, with each nation's sized skewed appropriately. It'due south not all that surprising that the earth's most populous nations — Communist china, India, and the Us — cease up looking pretty huge, here. Cathay, for its part, is the biggest meat consumer — show not only of its size, only also of its increasing wealth. And recently, China'southward surging gustatory modality for beef has been increasing prices across the globe.

Meat consumption, per capita

The previous map showed that China was consuming the virtually meat. But China also has a lot of people. When the information is examined per person, the situation looks quite different. This map shows how much meat, on average, people effectually the world eat every year. Each person in the U.s. is consuming roughly 250 pounds of meat — that's about three quarter-pounder burgers a day. People in Prc swallow about half the meat that Americans do. Some of that might be cultural, simply much of it is uncomplicated economics: meat is expensive compared to plant-based foods, and China's Gdp per capita is around a fifth of the US's.

Food deserts

One concept that has gained traction recently is that areas that have limited access to good for you nutrient end up with populations of less salubrious people. These areas are chosen food deserts. The concept sounds logical, and y'all can see in this map that in that location are some locations where people would have to take a bus, subway, or friend'south car to get to a supermarket. Only whether these deserts lead to poorer health is still existence debated. Sometimes areas with fewer supermarkets make up for it with more corner stores. Then once again, some giant supermarkets have disgusting produce that few would want to consume. One recent study found that poorer neighborhoods have more grocery stores than richer ones. Another paper plant no relationship between types of nearby nutrient and childhood weight. The discussion on this is far from over. And for those who wish to discuss, the USDA's interactive Nutrient Access Enquiry Atlas is hither.

Food stamps

The food postage stamp plan, now known as SNAP, helps roughly 40 one thousand thousand low-income Americans buy nutrient to eat. That's roughly one in x people. But nutrient stamp participants aren't spread out evenly across the country. As much every bit a quarter of the population participates in SNAP in Oregon, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Merely less than 10 per centum of some other states do. The deep recession has spiked growth in the programme, peculiarly in Florida, Rhode Island, Nevada, Idaho, and Utah. In all v states, participation at least doubled from 2008 to 2012.

Obesity over fourth dimension

Obesity over time

This map shows obesity rates since 1985. When the GIF starts, many states were so unconcerned about obesity that they weren't even tracking it. Of those that were, none had an obesity rate higher than fourteen percentage. Past 1994, all states had data, and the worst were 19 percentage obese. And by 2010, 12 states reported that they were at least thirty percent obese. That'due south a doubling over the course of this GIF. Y'all tin can see that the obesity epidemic is especially bad in southern states, but this is truly a national problem.

The chart that might explicate the obesity crisis

In this graph, Stephan J. Guyenet, an obesity researcher at the University of Washington, plots the rise of obesity (in red and blue) and the increase in food consumption (in green) over the by few decades. Since 1970, the incidence of obesity has more than doubled to nigh 35 percent of adults. At the aforementioned time, Americans are eating roughly 400 more calories a twenty-four hour period, an increment of about 20 percent. Guyenet argues that the mathematics works out such that this i trend — the increase in calorie consumption — tin account for the entire ascension in obesity.

Where are people'due south calories coming from?

Where are people's calories coming from?

This graph of USDA data shows what people have been eating from the 1970s to today and where the increment in calories is coming from. On the whole, consumption of fruits and vegetables, dairy, and meat has stayed relatively stable over that period of time. But starting in the '80s, Americans have been eating more grains, caloric sweeteners (such as sugar and corn syrup), and fats. What seems promising, though, is a plateauing or decrease of all six nutrient categories in recent years.

The new food pyramid is a plate

The USDA once encouraged healthy eating with its iconic nutrient pyramids, with grains at the bottom and fats and sweets at the top. In 2011, the department dropped its pyramid in favor of this plate — officially called MyPlate. The idea is to make your plate look like MyPlate: about half fruits and veggies, with some grains, protein, and low-fat dairy, such every bit milk or yogurt. The guidelines also come up with several tips, including to strive to eat whole grains, lookout portion sizes, and drink water instead of sugary beverages.

How Americans are (non) following USDA guidelines

How Americans are (not) post-obit USDA guidelines

So, how well take Americans been following the USDA'due south new MyPlate nutrition guide? Not all that well. On the whole, people in the United states of america are still in meat-and-potatoes fashion, even though that hasn't been the recommended plate for quite some fourth dimension. They've been eating more than enough meat and grains. But, equally a proportion of their intake, they're not eating nearly enough fruit, vegetables, or dairy.

Americans need to eat more fruits and vegetables

Americans need to eat more than fruits and vegetables

This data is from 2009, but it still shows interesting regional trends in who's eating their fruits and vegetables. The CDC suggests at least ii servings of fruit and at least 3 servings of veggies a twenty-four hours. Only its information shows every single state in the matrimony is failing. Even in the areas that eat the most fruit — the Northeast, Colorado, and California — less than half the population is coming together the CDC's fruit goals. The situation for vegetables is fifty-fifty worse. Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and some New England states come up out on tiptop, simply only xxx to 35 per centum of their residents are meeting the CDC's vegetable goals.

Regional food preferences

Whose barbecue is the best?

In that location is perhaps no American food whose regional variations and definitions — and fifty-fifty spellings — are more contested than that of charcoal-broil/barbeque/BBQ. (Note: co-ordinate to those who appreciate technicalities, a barbecue is when someone cooks with wood smoke. That means there is no such affair as a propane or coal barbecue. That's just grilling.) This map, from Texas Monthly, is ready to put up a fight in favor of the various varieties of barbecue that the Lonely Star State produces. Other major contenders include the vinegary pulled pork of the Carolinas and Memphis-manner wet and dry ribs. People from those areas may not observe this map precisely authentic.

The map of American pizza chains

This is the all-time map of the worst pizza. It shows the nearest pizza identify to each location, from amidst nine popular bondage. You can run into the say-so of Pizza Hut, its abundant red squares scattered beyond the land like pepperoni. And Domino'southward in blue is also doing well throughout the East. But in that location are even so regional favorites, many of which are fairly unheard of outside of their spheres of influence. Check out what Godfather's Pizza (in brown) is doing in Iowa. (Why Iowa? The chain was founded in neighboring Nebraska.) And Papa Murphy's pizza (in green) is spreading out on the Westward Declension. (It was founded in Vancouver, Washington.)

What's your state's most iconic concatenation?

What's your state's most iconic chain?

This probably isn't what most people have in heed when they talk nearly eating local, simply fifty-fifty chain restaurants can have a regional side. Thrillist mapped what it considers to be the well-nigh "iconic" chain from each state, and the results are sure to be as hotly contested as such lists always are. (For example, note the lack of Friendly's. Really?) Some are local icons that former locals and then moan nigh for the rest of their lives (coughing, displaced Californians and their In-North-Out Burger). Others, like McDonald'due south, have been exported all over the world.

How far are you from a McDonald'south?

How far are you from a McDonald'southward?

McDonald's has more than 35,000 locations on Earth, and the US has the highest concentration of them — virtually one for every 20,000 residents, according to The Guardian'due south Datablog. This map, by artist and scientist Stephen Von Worley, shows the distance to the nearest McDonald'southward throughout the continental US. It doesn't look all that unlike from what the Earth looks like at night — the crowded Eastward and West Coast, the sparsely populated areas west of the Rockies. And where is the "McFarthest Spot," every bit Von Worley puts it? Within that dark infinite in upper South Dakota, a 145-mile drive from the nearest Mickey D'southward.

Which fast nutrient restaurants dominate where?

Stephen Von Worley's Beefspace map shows a country of fast food. Each point has the colors of the 3 most popular restaurants at that location. Black is McDonald's, and so you lot can feel the relative influence of non-Mickey D'southward restaurants by the splashes of colour. It'due south another example of the power of regional chains: wait at the pool of Sonic blue spilling out over the South. (The map is also designed then that the dots' locations are the places where people are near likely to spend cash, according to Dirk Brockmann's wheresgeorge.com research.)

Where is Waffle Business firm?

Where is Waffle House?

Waffle House was founded in Georgia in 1955. Since then it has multiplied like crazy in its home state and expanded to more than 1,700 locations across (some of) the country. The 24-hr restaurant'south cardinal menu item is its sometime-school waffle that is sweeter and flatter than its Belgian cousins. The restaurant also has some of the best hash browns in the world. But American access to Waffle House is currently limited to roughly half the states of the union. No, I don't care that yous might have an IHOP nearby. Seriously. This is a serious map nigh serious breakfast nutrient.

Where are hurricanes (and Waffle Firm)?

Where are hurricanes (and Waffle House)?

FEMA has been using Waffle Houses every bit unofficial indicators of disaster recovery in recent years. Why? Beginning of all, the chains are conveniently located (ruby dots) across the hurricane zones of the US (the grey lines on this map are hurricane and tropical storm tracks since 1851), every bit you tin see in this map from Pop Science. Waffle Houses ordinarily operate 24 hours a solar day and have exceptional disaster preparedness that lets them open back up quickly after a storm, the magazine reported. So whether a Waffle Firm has made it through an extreme weather event can exist a handy thing to know. Because of this, Waffle Houses have been reporting their statuses to FEMA since 2012.

Where are Carl'south Jr. and Hardy's?

Where are Carl'south Jr. and Hardy'south?

In 1997, the regional wars between the fast food joints Carl'southward Jr. and Hardee's took an odd plow when the California-founded Carl's Jr. bought out the North Carolina-founded Hardee'southward. But because the 2 restaurants have such strong local identities, they didn't merge nether ane banner. Instead, they kept the proper name that was well-nigh powerful in that state. The exceptions are Wyoming and Oklahoma, where both names are in utilize. Together, Carl'south Jr. and Hardee's have about iii,000 locations and are the fifth largest fast nutrient chain in the U.s.. Meanwhile, New England is eating Mickey D'south and Burger Rex and has absolutely no idea what the big fuss is all near.

Where's In-N-Out Burger?

Where'south In-N-Out Burger?

This map shows the counties in the United states that are graced by the presence of at least i In-Due north-Out Burger. Founded in California in 1948, the family-owned chain has grown to roughly 300 exceptionally well-loved locations. And information technology has continued to expand since this map was made. For case, according to In-N-Out Burger'due south website, there are several locations in Travis County, Texas, which contains the state capital of Austin. And Bell County, Texas, is about to get ane, too. But, sadly for the East Declension, In-N-Out remains a decidedly Western miracle.

How America drinks

Where you can drink on the street

Where you tin can drink on the street

The Huffington Mail service created this fairly thorough, although admittedly non absolutely consummate, map of where 1 may enjoy the pleasures of imbibing alcoholic beverages in public. Blue states don't have whatsoever statewide ban on public drinking, and green states have pending legislation that would let it. Local laws may vary, though. Towns marked with yellow stars let people drink in most public places. Ones with royal stars allow drinking merely in certain areas. The Huffington Mail's accompanying characteristic on local drinking laws is well worth a read, likewise.

Bars vs. grocery stores

On this map, ruby-red is for confined, and yellow is for grocery stores. More specifically, this map shows whether there are more references for 1 or the other in the Google Maps directory at a sure location. It suggests that Wisconsin, Illinois, and North Dakota take more confined than grocery stores. Merely what about per capita? Co-ordinate to Census data, the The states has roughly one and a half confined per ten,000 people. Only Northward Dakota, Montana, and Wisconsin accept more than iii times that number. (For the record, Vox's Matthew Yglesias thinks it's just fine to have more bars than grocery stores.)

Beer vs. wine

2 geographers from the Academy of Kentucky created this map. It shows where people were tweeting well-nigh which alcoholic beverages in 2012. That year, people in the United states produced nearly a million geotagged tweets almost beer alone, providing a rich information set for assay. Using social media chatter as a proxy for consumption, information technology seems that this nation has a thoroughly wino East and West Coast and a beer-drinking Midwest. (The Due west apparently should tweet more if its residents desire their drinking preferences to be known to geographers.)

Elevation beers past state

Height beers by state

This map of a nonscientific survey of 5,249 Americans shows that the nation'due south favorite beers are a patchwork of both history and innovation: from Yuengling — the oldest operating brewery in America — to the Colorado-based Blue Moon Brewing Company, which has only been making its Belgian-style wheat beers since 1995. Although this map might make it seem that the country has gone completely gaga for Blueish Moon, it's important to go along in mind that some states accept more people than others. California alone has about as many residents every bit the western Blueish Moon region combined (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New United mexican states, Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota). Texas' Bud Lite pulls a lot of weight, too. (Also, people'south favorite beers may not exist the beers they drink well-nigh often.)

Unusually popular Starbucks orders

Starbucks has near thirteen,000 locations in the United states of america, roughly the same number as McDonald'south. Quartz worked with the coffee chain to create this map of drinks that are more pop in each city over other cities. (Notation: this doesn't mean that San Diego's favorite beverage is the Greenish tea Frappuccino. It means that San Diego orders a greater percentage of them than the other cities on the map.) Notation the blue iced potable region in the hot, lower latitudes. And Boston, despite its location in the dank Northward, has a dearest of iced coffee, besides. Seattleites, who live in Starbucks' hometown, are the almost likely to social club an actress shot of espresso in their beverages.

The bang-up soft drink classification argue

The nifty soft drink classification fence

Pop or soda. Soda or pop. Alan McConchie's nonscientific soft-beverage poll has collected more than 300,000 preferences and counting. As of April 4, the nationwide tally has soda (41 pct) is always and then slightly chirapsia out pop (39 percent). Soda's back up is centered in the Northeast, California, and a hub of influence near the Missouri/Illinois border. The rest of the country seems to be generally carve up between a popular-loving North and a Coke-loving South.

The ascent of soft drinks

The ascension of soft drinks

According to this chart from the Center for Scientific discipline in the Public Interest, the US production of soda per capita has more than quadrupled since the 1940s. In 2004, the industry was making the equivalent of more 500 cans of soda per person per year. The rise of nutrition soda has lagged backside the rise of regular soda, simply by 2004 diet fabricated up almost a third of soft drinks being produced. (Note: Information technology's possible that some of the production represented in this chart were exports for consumption outside of the U.s..)

The rise of bottled h2o

The rising of bottled water

In recent years, Americans seem to be drinking a bit less soda. In addition, the US has seen a l percent increase in bottled water consumption. This pattern may have something to practise with the pass up in other beverages, such every bit juice, powdered drinks, and soft drinks. But it too might be replacing some consumption of tap water, which isn't on the chart. Americans are also drinking more than wine and spirits instead of beer. And they're drinking so much more wine and spirits that it seems to be an increase in overall booze consumption. Cheers!

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Source: https://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america