Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Animal foods
5.8%
Other
17.2%
Grains/oilseeds
9.9%
Sugar/confections
5.9%
Bakery products
14.3%
Fruits/vegetables
12.1%
Seafoo
d
2.0%
Dairy
11.3%
Meat products
21.5%
Figure 1.
10
Composition of total value-added by food processors, 2007
Source: 2007 Economic Census.
fi rms are engaged in food processing activities, most own but a single processing plant
(McDonald 2000). On the other end of the continuum, the 50 largest processing fi rms account
for 52 percent of the total value added in the processing industries (2007 Economic
Census).
The sharp increase in concentration among food processing industry fi rms in the last
30 years has led to a few large companies marketing a wide variety of commodity and
branded products. Major commodity processing industries, such as animal feed, grain
milling, and meat packing, are dominated by giants such as Smithfi eld Foods, Cargill, ADM,
and ConAgra. Among well-known food processing and manufacturing fi rms are Nestlé,
Kraft, General Mills, Mars, and Coca-Cola.
Our fi nal group of food sector fi rms includes those that acquire or assemble commodities
from agricultural producers, and store and transport these products for food manufacturing
and processing fi rms. Transportation and logistics fi rms facilitate the marketing and process-
ing phases of the food sector. Firms ranging in size from the grain handling giant Cargill,
to local cooperatives that handle grain, are involved in the collection, storage, and transpor-
tation of agricultural commodities. A similar process then ensues as products are shipped
to food retailers.
Transportation output is measured in ton-miles, a metric which tracks the interrelation-
ship between weight and distance. For example, if a 25 ton truckload of wheat moves
200 miles to market, that trip generated 5,000 ton-miles. Agricultural and food products are
important users of the U.S. transportation system. Agricultural commodities shipped from
growers to processors accounted for 13 percent of the ton-miles in 2007 (Commodity Flow
Survey 2009). Shipments from food processors to retailers account for another 8 percent
of the total ton-miles.
