The United States and Canada
Today
Key
Terms
free
enterprise
truck
farm
contour
plowing
crop
rotation
service
industry
interdependent
North
American Free Trac
Agreement
(NAFTA)
Colin
Lee, an outstanding mathematics student, is preparing for a career in Canada's
diverse economy. The United States and Canada both have highly developed
economies and are among the world's top 10 economic powers. Their economies are
based on free enterprise, or capitalism, which allows individuals to own,
operate, and profit from their own businesses. Canada, however, also has a
number of government-owned corporations that carry out public services.
The
many natural resources available combined with the use of advanced technology
have boosted the economic growth of the United States and Canada. With its
small population, Canada is a major exporter of mineral
products,
largely to the United States. The United States, a major producer, imports many
goods for several reasons: because of the depletion of United States resources
such as petroleum; because of improvements in foreign products; and because of
the enormous demands of the United States economy.
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTION
Agriculture
Farmers
in the United States and Canada produce a wide variety of agricultural goods.
Different parts of the region support different products.
Many
Climates, Many Products
One-fourth
of the land in the United States is pastureland. Huge weste ranches and ranches
in the South and Midwest support
100
million head of cattle. Beef is one of the most important agricultural products
in the United States.
Cattle
also provide the most important agricultural products in Canada. Beef cattle
ranches prosper in the drier, western parts of the Prairie Provinces—Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. In addition, the north central part of the United
States and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario support dairy farming
and raise hogs and chickens.
The three most important grains
in the world—wheat, corn, and rice—are grown in the United States and Canada.
The region is a world leader in the production of both wheat and corn.
In the United States, the Great
Plains has been called the Wheat Belt because so much wheat is grown there. The
Prairie Provinces of Canada also are great wheat producers.
In the short growing season of
the northern United States, spring wheat, which is planted in early spring and
harvested in the fall, is grown. The southern parts of the Wheat Belt produce
winter wheat. Winter wheat is planted in the fall so that the roots can grow
before the soil freezes. The winter’s snowcovering protects the young plants and provides spring watering as it
melts. Winter wheat is harvested during the summer.
Corn,
grown by Native Americans long before the arrival of Europeans, also thrives in
the United States and Canada. The United States alone grows more than 40
percent of the world’s corn. The nation’s Corn Belt extends through the
northern Great Plains in a rough band from Ohio to Nebraska. The Canadian
provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba also count corn as a major crop.
About 96 percent of the corn crop is used for animal feed; only about 4 percent
is eaten by humans.
The
United States and Canada also grow many other products. In the United States,
soybeans, tobacco, and peanuts grow well in the South, while cotton thrives in
the South and on irrigated land in the Southwest. Midwest farmers bring oats,
sorghum, and barley to market. In Canada, barley, flaxseed, oats, and rye
thrive in a belt north of Canada’s wheatgrowing areas. Southern Ontario’s warm
summers and relatively long growing season produce a variety of specialty
crops, such as soybeans and tobacco.
The
United States and Canada also grow vegetables. Potatoes are an important crop
in the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Truck
farms in the
northeastern United States produce vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbages, and
string beans. Located near large cities, truck farms can ship vegetables
quickly to market. In the southeastern United States, vegetables such as
tomatoes, cabbages, and celery are grown to ship north during the winter. Parts
of the Pacific Coast region also produce vegetables. California ranks first
among the states in the production of tomatoes, lettuce, and dozens of
specialty vegetables, such as peas, asparagus, okra, and avocados.
The United States and Canada
also grow many kinds of fruit. Apples, peaches, and cherries flourish in the
Great Lakes region. California produces a great diversity of fruits, especially
grapes and strawberries. Citrus fruits are grown in central and southern
Florida, in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and in southern California.
In Canada, southeastern British Columbia, the St. Lawrence River valley, and
areas of Quebec and Ontario are important fruit-growing areas.
Agriculture
and Technology
Technology boosts agricultural
production in the United States and Canada. Modern methods of irrigation, for
example, improve the harvest on more than 40 million acres (16 million ha) in
both countries. Farmers also try to conserve precious soil by contour plowing, or plowing along the
natural curves of the land to keep topsoil from washing away with rainwater
runoff. Crop rotation, in which
farmers grow different crops in succession on the same land, helps preserve the
soil’s nutrients. Farmers also allow some land to lie fallow—plowed but not
seeded—during a growing season. In addition, farmers often rotate regular crops, such
as soybeans which nourish the soil, with fallow fields.
Scientific developments aid the growth and
productivity of farming. Advances in pesticides—substances that kill
crop-eating pests—and chemical fertilizers—mixtures that make soil more
fertile—increase crop yields. Scientific developments in the breeding of both
plants and animals improve output. Hybrid seeds, or seeds from two different
types of plants that are crossbred, has led to the production of stronger
plants and higher yields.
Inventions of farm machinery such as the tractor,
the reaper, the thresher, and eventually the combine—a combination of reaper
and thresher—have made farmers more efficient. In the last 60 years, new
fanning methods have quadrupled the yield in the Midwest alone.
Owners of smaller farms, however, often cannot afford
this new equipment. In addition, combines and other machines are best suited
for very large farms. These factors make it harder for owners of small farms to
compete with the owners of large farms.
As a result, the size of the region’s farms has
increased, while the number of farmers has decreased. In the last 70 years, the
average farm in the United States has more than tripled in size from about 143
acres (58 ha) to about 462 acres (187 ha). Less than 2.5 percent of the United
States population now works in farm occupations compared to more than 70
percent in the early 1800s. Only about 4.5 percent of all Canadians still make
their living through farming.
New technologies have enabled farmers to grow
surplus crops. Farmers export their surpluses to international markets. This
enriches the economies of their nations.
nologies such as robotics and computerized
automation.
Transportation equipment, which includes airplanes,
cars, and their parts, ranks near the top of both nations’ manufacturing
industries. Transportation equipment and machinery is the United States’
largest export. The United States manufactures about 18 percent of the world’s
motor vehicles and ranks second, after Japan, in production.
Food processing is big business in both the United
States and Canada. Everything from canned fruits to soft drinks is manufactured
in the region. Canada’s manufacture of wood pulp, paper, and newsprint makes it
a world leader in wood-related industries. Other goods manufactured in this
region include clothing, iron, steel, and petroleum products.
Economies produce both goods and services. Service
industries provide services rather
than produce goods. Some services provided by service industries include
financial help (banks and insurance), distribution and sale of goods (shipping
companies and retail stores), credit cards, financial investment, education,
health care, and tourism.
In
the United States and Canada, service industries employ more people than any
other kind of industry. More than two-thirds of all workers—including doctors,
lawyers, teachers, secretaries, and government employees—offer services to
others. Service industries account for most of the gross domestic product in
both nations as well.
In
contrast to manufacturing industries, service industries are growing at a fast
rate. Some of the fastest-growing service occupations include computer
technicians, analysts, operators, health care, insurance, advertising, and
legal services.
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTION
Manufacturing
and Service Industries
About
one in five workers in the United States and Canada makes a living in
manufacturing. The region is a world leader in manufactured goods largely
because of tech-
MOVEMENT
Trade
and Interdependence
In
any modem economy, surpluses produced by agriculture and industry can be traded
with others. Sometimes this trade takes place
inside a nation’s boundaries. At
other times trade occurs between two different countries.
Foregn
Trade
Trade makes up an important part
of the economies of the United States and Canada. Thousands of jobs are
connected to exporting, sending goods to other countries, and importing,
bringing goods into the country.
The United States leads the
world in trade, supplying one-tenth of all goods exported worldwide and importing
an even higher percentage. American farmers export more than one-fourth of
their crops, including cotton, soybeans, tobacco, and wheat. Many manufactured
goods, especially aircraft and spacecraft, computers, and electrical equipment,
are exported as well.
The United States imports goods
either that it cannot provide or that are cheaper from other countries.
Important imports include large amounts of raw materials, such as copper,
nickel, and petroleum.
Canada also depends on foreign
trade to bolster its economy. The nation exports transportation equipment, wood
and wood products, ores, petroleum, and grain. Three-fourths of the fish caught
and processed by Canadians enter the export market as well. Among Canada’s most
important imports are cars and car parts, industrial machinery, computers, and
textiles.
The United States and Canada are
major trading partners. The United States trades more with the Canadian
province of Ontario than with the entire nation of Japan, the United States’s
second-largest trading partner. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy
expressed American-Canadian trade ties when he told a Canadian audience:
count for about 20 percent of
the United States’s total trade. In contrast, trade with the United States
accounts for 70 percent of Canada’s exports and imports. These huge trade
revenues—totaling billions of dollars for each nation—lead to an
interdependence between nations.
Interdependence
The economies of the United
States and Canada, and many other nations as well, have become increasingly interdependent, or reliant on each
other, during the last few decades. For example, the United States and Saudi
Arabia, a country in southwestern Asia, have become interdependent. The United
States produces a surplus of food, but it cannot produce enough oil to meet its
large energy needs. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia produces much more oil than
it uses, but its farmers cannot feed all the Saudi people. The United States
depends on Saudi Arabia for part of its oil imports, and Saudi Arabia depends
on exports of food, machinery, and other nished
Geography
made us neighbors. History made us friends. And economics has made us partners.
MOVEMENT
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA:
SOCIAL INDICATORS
goods from the United States.
Similarly, Japan depends on Canada’s raw materials, while Canada depends on
Japan’s manufactured products.
Countries often worry about
increased interdependence, especially when their imports exceed their exports.
They sometimes restrict trade, hoping to become more self-reliant by supporting
domestic production. At times Canada has passed legislation trying to restore
balance to its trading relationship with the United States.
Recently, however, the United
States and Canada have signed trade agreements that ensure their continued
interdependence. The early 1990s saw significant steps taken toward the
elimination of remaining trade barriers and the creation of a free trade pact
called the North Aerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFA). The new trading area
includes Canada, the United States, and Mexico. NAFTA has created one of the
world’s most productive economic blocs, rivaled only by the European Union and
Japan.
Transportation
and Communications
The United States and Canada
lead the world in transportation and communications systems. The many methods
of moving people and goods and of exchanging information are very efcient and
depend on the latest technology.
An
Economy on the Move
The United States and Canada
have excellent roadway systems. In the United States, about 190 million motor
vehicles travel the
4 million miles (6.4 million km)
of streets, roads, and highways that crisscross the nation. Canada’s smaller,
more concentrated population relies on about 14.5 million motor vehicles and
550,000 miles (885,000 km) of roads. Most of the roadways in the region hav
paved surfaces.
The Federal Interstate Highway
System in the United States is a 42,500-mile (68,383 km) network of freeways
designed to link 90 percent of the country’s cities that have populations greater
than 50,000. The interstat system is scheduled to be finished during th
1990s. In Canada, the freeway
system includes the Trans-Canada Highway. This two-lane highway, completed in
1962, extends almost
5,000 miles (8,045 km) across
the nation, from British Columbia to Newfoundland.
All these roads are used by
millions of cars and trucks each day. The trucking industry carries almost 25
percent of the total freight hauled in the United States. In Canada, t trucking
industry transports a smaller share ! the country’s total freight—partly
becausr Canada’s severe winters can create poor condi tions for shipping
freight by road. Still, mor than 110 million short tons (100 million t) !
freight are transported over Canada’s road sys te each year.
Automobiles account for more
than fourfifths of the passenger traffic in the cities of the United States and
Canada. Therefore, automobile manufacturing and sales are important
businesses in both countries. The automobile’s great popularity and the
development of freeway systems have also encouraged the rise of other
businesses, including motels, shopping malls, and drive-in banks and
restaurants.
The
railroad changed the face of the region forever. The tracks created a link
between East and West, ending the West’s isolation and opening it for
settlement. On May 10, 1869, two rail lines in the United States connected in
Utah, creating the world’s first transcontinental railroad. One observer for
the New York Times described its
effect on the country’s unity: In 1885,
Canada also opened its western lands when it pounded the last spike into its
own transcontinental railroad.
Industry in the United States
and Canada has always relied heavily on the railroads. United States railroad
lines carry about 35 percent of the freight transported each year. About 30
percent of Canada’s freight moves over that nation’s rails.
Although passenger use has
declined on the regular rail lines, commuter trains—trains that carry workers
between the outlying communities and central cities such as New York, San
Francisco, and Toronto—are important passenger carriers. One commuter train can
carry as many commuters as 1,000 cars. Underground rail systems and elevated
rail systems also transport people from one part of a city to another.
The natural waterways of the
region were the most important means of transportation for early settlers. The
French used the St. Lawrence Rver, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River
as their routes to the interior of the continent. To the south, pioneers depended
on the Ohio River to guide them westward.
Today, about 15 percent of all
United States freight travels the nation’s inland waterways— canals, rivers,
and lakes that can be used by boats, mainly barges. Half of this amount is
shipped on the Mississippi River, which together with the Ohio and its
tributaries is the United States’ busiest inland waterway.
Canada’s most important
waterways are the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. A joint project
between the United States and Canada that was completed in 1959, the St.
Lawrence Seaway is a system of canals and locks that opened a shipping lane
from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
This new seaway made ocean ports
out of inland cities like Montreal and Toronto. Although closed by ice from
December to April, the St. Lawrence Seaway is used heavily during the rest of
the year. Canadian barges carry most of the 50 million short tons (45 million
t) of freight shipped each year on this inland waterway.
Pipelines are another important
means of freight transportation in the United States and Canada. Pipelines
carry such cargo as natural gas, oil, gasoline, and kerosene. About one-fourth of the total
freight shipped within the United States is carried by pipeline. The
TransAlaska Pipeline carries oil 800 miles (1,287 km) from the northern tundra
lands of Alaska southward to the port of Valdez, where warmer waters make
pickup by oil tankers possible. In Canada the 2,500-mile-long (4,022-km-long)
Interprovincial Pipeline and the slightly shorter Trans-Canada Pipeline
transport petroleum and natural gas from Alberta to Montreal.
Dependable
Communications Networks
Advanced
communications systems help provide this region with ways to share information
and exchange ideas. One of the basic, government-supported communications
systems found in both nations is the postal systems. The postal systems help
people and businesses stay in communication with one another.
Telephones
also provide networks for exchanging information. The United States and Canada
have about 200 million telephones— more than 1 telephone for every 2 people.
The United States alone uses about two-fifths of all the telephones in the
world.
The
use of computers and other advanced technologies, such as microwave relays and
communications satellites, have advanced the telecommunications systems in this
region. Telecommunications systems send and receive messages over long
distances.
Some
telecommunications systems not only cover long distances but also reach large
audiences. Television and radio are examples of this kind of mass
communication. In the United States, 98 percent of all households have at least
1 television, and most of the televisions are color. In both the United States
and Canada, there is more than 1 television for every 2 people—as many
televisions as there are telephones. Radios, however, are the most popular form
of communication. In Canada the number of radios almost equals the number of
people, and in the United States, there are 2 radios for every person.
In
the United States, most telecommunications systems used for mass communication,
like television and radio stations, are owned privately. The government,
however, does regulate their use to some extent. The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) licenses stations, decides which broadcast channels should be
used, and requires each station to offer public service programs. Canada’s
government exerts greater control over mass communications industries than does
the United States’. For example, a government agency called the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulates and licenses all
electronic communications systems in Canada. It also requires that 30 percent
of all musical radio programs and 60 percent of all television programs involve
Canadian writers or performers.
Written
materials are another vital form of mass communications in this region. In both
countries, thousands of private publishers produce newspapers, books, and
magazines. The United States has more than 1,500 daily newspapers. Canada has
more than 100 daily newspapers printed in English and about 10 printed in
French. In addition, the United States publishes about 45,000 book titles each
year, while Canada publishes about 20,000. Several thousand magazine titles
also are produced in this region.
Checking
for Understanding
1. Define
free enterprise, truck farm, contour plowing, crop rotation, service
industry, interdependent North American Free Trade Agreement.
2.
Locating Places
Where is the United States Corn
Belt?
3.
Movement
Why does the United States
import goods?
4. Place
What is the St. Lawrence Seaway?
Critical
Thinking
5.
Determining Cause and Effect How
have advances in farm machinery
affected the owners of small farms?