U.S. Agricultural Export Shares by Region and State, Fiscal Year 1968

Excerpts from the report: The U.S. farmer has an important stake in the foreign market. In recent years about one-sixth of his income has been from the sale of agricultural products in foreign markets. In 1967/68 (year ending June 30), over two-thirds of U.S. rice output, over half of the wheat and cotton output, about 40 percent of hides and skins, and tallow, and around one-fourth of the farm sales of tobacco, grain sorghums, and corn were exported. The export market required the output of 71 million acres of U.S. cropland -- one-fourth of the total harvested in the United States in 1967. It is extremely difficult to separate and report agricultural exports for the regions and the States. However, an indication of the importance of the foreign markets for each State and region can be derived. In this article, the export shares for these areas were estimated mainly on the basis of the State's contribution to the Nations 's output of agricultural commodities as shown by production or sales data. Once the export shares were determined, they were further refined and adjusted in some cases for certain commodities to reflect the actual shipment by commodity, grade, type, and export destination based on the information obtained from commodity specialists, trade groups, transportation agencies, and exporters.