U.S. ag exports have increased 232 percent between Wayne Gretzky’s retirement and 2024
Alex Ovechkin’s goal against the New York Islanders with 12:34 left in the second period on April 6 is a moment many hockey and sports fans didn’t think would happen.
That goal gave Ovechkin 895 for his career and put him alone atop the NHL’s all-time goals scoring list.
He passed Wayne Gretzky, who held the record of 894 career goals for 31 years following his April 1999 retirement.
With that at top of mind, Farms.com is going back to around the time of Gretzky’s retirement, to give an idea of how far ag production has come.
For starters, the site this article is posted on was in its early years.
Farms.com launched in January 1995, soon after it was possible to view images online!
And the person writing this article was approaching his 13th birthday in July 1999.
Stat | 1999 | 2024 | Percentage Change |
Average U.S. corn yield | 133.8 bushels per acre 9.84 billion total bushels | 179.3 bushels per acre 14.9 billion total bushels | 51 percent increase in total corn production |
Average U.S. soybean yield | 38.6 bushels per acre 2.76 billion total bushels | 50.7 bushels per acre 4.37 billion total bushels | 58 percent increase in total soybean production |
U.S. ag exports | $53 billion across 130 countries | $176 billion to 189 countries | 232 percent increase |
U.S. farmland acres | 948 million | 876 million | 7.6 percent decrease |
Average Canadian canola yield | 28.2 bushels per acre 8.8 million total tonnes | 36 bushels per acre 17.8 million total tonnes | 27 percent increase in average yield |
Average Canadian durum production | 36 bushels per acre 4.3 million total tonnes | 32.8 bushels per acre 5.9 million total tonnes | 9 percent decrease in average yield |
Canadian ag exports | $21.7 billion | $99.1 billion | 356 percent increase |
Canadian farmland acres | 168 million | 153.7 million | 8.5 percent decrease |
Here’s what else happened in ag in 1999:
- Novariant launched the first commercially available auto steering system for farm equipment
- Case and New Holland merged to form CNH Global N.V.
- Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University, proposes the idea of vertical farming.
- USDA scientists discovered milkweed seedmeal can control nematodes and fall armyworms.
- The first automatic milking system in North America is installed on a farm in Ontario.
- The Fendt Favorit 700 Vario wins the Tractor of the Year award.
- Agriculture Canada released a document to help farmers understand the Y2K challenge.
Learn about Novariant's technology in ag around 2:20 of the video.