I have some doubt in the answers I calculated myself, so it would be much apprec

Question

I have some doubt in the answers I calculated myself, so it would be much appreciated if someone could go through these problems as well.

The U.S. average yield of com is 153 bushels/acre. Does this agree with the 2009 international average as defined by the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) com yield of 51219 hectogram/hectare? If not. what might explain the difference? Using the FAO yield estimate, calculate how much com could be grown on the planet if all current cropland were used for com. First, calculate the surface area of the earth based on the average radius, then the land area (30% of the surface area), then the croplands (10% of the land area), and assume one harvest per year3. Give answer in kg. How many people could be fed if all com went to food? (And humans ate only com!). Assume a minimum caloric intake of 2000 calories (kcal) a day and 83 kcal/77 g (1 ear) of com. Now. we'll consider a diet of 100% meat, where animals eat the grain, and people eat the animals. It has been estimated that the production of 1 kg meat requires 3-10 kg grain, so let's take 7 kg as a middle value. Assume 200 kcal/85g (3 oz.). a typical value for beef. How many people could be fed if all com went toward meat for human consumption?

Explanation / Answer

Corn production (also maize production) plays a major role in the economy of the United States. The country is one of the worldwide corn leaders with 80,000,000 acres (32,000,000 ha) of land reserved for corn production. Corn growth is dominated by west/north central Iowa and east central Illinois. The US is ranked first in the world in corn production, and 20% of its annual yield is exported.

Etymology

Corn primarily means maize in the United States and Canada; this terminology started as a shortening of "Indian corn". Indian corn primarily means maize (the staple grain ofindigenous Americans), but can refer more specifically to multicolored "flint corn" used for decoration. However, outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand corn means any cereal crop, its meaning varying geographically to refer to the local staple

History

Left: Illustration depicting both male and female flowers of maize; Right: Select corn production chart for 2010 by the United States Department of Agriculture

Corn is believed to have been introduced from Mexico to the United States a few thousand years agoThe original corn plant known as teosinte is still grown in Mexico and its size (ears of corn) has substantially increased due to efforts of American Indians and scientific research. It is now the third leading grain crop in the world.

By the time scientific assessment of conduciveness to grow corn in the United States was undertaken by Meriwether Lewis in 1804, the immigrant settlers had already spread its growth in many parts of the country due to its suitability to grow in varying climatic and soil conditions. Once the suitability of land in the central part of the country, the Midwestern United States, was scientifically established as fertile and rich by the scientists Lewis and Clark, the settlers moved to the area in large numbers and started growing corn in a big way, reaping large benefits. Over the centuries, the crop varieties underwent changes to get better yields while farming methods were improved. As a result the fertile belt soon came to be known as "the Corn Belt". Hybrid cropping techniques were widely practiced from late 1880s, and the hybrid varieties developed with cross and re-cross breeding techniques developed by university research. This ushered a new age of agriculture. The 1% area devoted to hybrid varieties in 1934 rose to 78% in the 1940s and continued to rise thereafter. In the 1950s, Henry A. Wallace, former Vice President and former Secretary of Agriculture, and an early developer of hybrid seeds, observed that "the Corn Belt had developed into the most productive agricultural civilization the world has ever seen." This trend has continued and now the corn production level in American farms is a significant 20% higher per acre than in the rest of the world.

As the growth of corn has spread to extensive production in 14 states (though it is grown to a lesser extent in all the other US states), a coalition of farmers associations in all these states has been established. This association is known as the Corn Farmers Coalition, which is a union of the National Corn Growers Association and 14 state corn associations (including Iowa Corn). It spearheads interaction with policy-makers in Washington about the efforts put in by how innovative farmers to maintain and increase corn crop yield year after year with fixed assets ensuring environmental standards.

Production

A 1918 US poster promoting corn.

The total production of corn in the US for the year 2012

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