One of every four Nebraska jobs is connected to agriculture.

Nebraska's livestock industry accounts for more than 60 percent of the state's total agricultural receipts each year. Beef receipts totaled about $5 billion in 2002, about 52 percent of the state's total agricultural receipts. Cash receipts from hogs accounted for about $584 million (about 6.1 percent of total receipts). Annual cash receipts from poultry and eggs were $112 million (1.2 percent of total receipts).

Nebraska's farms and ranches use 45.9 million acres - 93 percent of the state's total land area.

Nebraska has nearly 23 million acres of rangeland, with half of it in the Sandhills in the north central part of the state.

Corn, soybeans, winter wheat and grain sorghum are Nebraska's leading crops. About 15.2 million acres are used for these crops. Hay is produced on another 3.2 million acres.

Geography & Climate

Nebraska is located in the mid-section of the U.S. and is part of the Great Plains. Hot summers and cold winters, variability in rainfall distribution, fluctuating length of the growing season and frequent wind typify Nebraska's climate. Average precipitation during the past decade has ranged from just over 33 inches in the southeast to slightly more than 18 inches in the west. About 75 percent of it falls as rain from April to September, the crop growing season. Average growing season ranges from 170 days in the southeast to 120 days in the extreme northwest. Elevation in the southeast is about 1,000 feet above sea level, while the Panhandle in western Nebraska has elevations of 4,000 to 5,400 feet.

Irrigation, currently used on about 8.17 million acres of crop and pastureland, provides a buffer against drought, a serious recurrent problem in the Great Plains. A careful selection of adaptable crops, improved varieties, use of strip and contour cropping, stubble mulching, deferred grazing and other proven practices enable Nebraska farmers to cope with climatic uncertainty and supply domestic and international markets with top quality products.

Water

Nebraska is a water-rich state. About two billion acre-feet of good quality groundwater, most of it easily accessible, is stored in porous rock beds called aquifers, which are located underneath more than half of the state's 49-million-acre land surface. Nebraska has an average of 80 to 100 million acre-feet of annual precipitation and an annual surface-water inflow of roughly two million acre-feet. About seven to eight million acre-feet of surface water flows to other states, making Nebraska a donor of approximately five to six million acre-feet more than flows into its borders.

Soils

Nebraska soils were produced by interaction of climate and biological organisms on parent materials and modified by local topography, drainage and exposure to weathering. Two types of geologic deposits are the parent materials for the vast majority of soils in the state. Wind-blown sand is a parent material in the Sandhills grazing region that occupies much of the north-central part of the state. Elsewhere, most soils formed in wind-blown silt and clay or loess. Topography and subsequent soil drainage have greatly influenced development of soil properties in local areas.

Land Use

Nebraska's 45.9 million acres in farms and ranches are divided between cropland and other land used primarily for pastures and rangeland to support the state's livestock industry. Corn, soybeans, winter wheat and grain sorghum are the major crops. Corn and winter wheat are grown essentially statewide, while most soybeans are produced in the eastern half of Nebraska. Primary grain sorghum-producing counties are in the southeastern third of the state.

The specialty crops of dry edible beans and sugar beets are produced in western irrigated fields. Sandhills pastures in north-central Nebraska provide much of the state's wild hay production and maintain many cow/calf operations.

(Adapted from NEBRASKA AGRI-FACTS, Special Edition, May 2004. For additional Nebraska crop and livestock statistics and rankings, go to Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service.)

To learn more about how Nebraska's major crops and livestock are produced and their many uses, visit the Agriculture in the Classroom section of this web site.