4. Fill the blanks according to the text

1. ______ is the value of goods and services that America produces in a year.

2. The agricultural industry ______17 percent of the GDP.

3. These related industries ______food and fiber from farmers.

4. Another $45 billion comes from ______ sources.

5. The agribusiness ______ sector needs approximately 20 million workers.

6. The USDA _______ that over 600,000 businesses are involved in marketing food products.

7. This represents about 9 percent of the consumers' disposable personal ______.

5. Look through the text. Name the text and divide it into parts.Translate the text paying attention to the words in the bold type.

Specifically, there are three major areas of private agriservices available to the agricultural industry: financial services, trade associations, and agricul­tural cooperatives.

Financial services are a vital part of the agricultural industry. Lending money to all three sectors of the agricultural industry (input, production, and output) is big business. Outstanding loans for farm real estate alone amount to nearly $80 billion, in addition to other outstanding loans and nonreal estate debt, which is nearly another $65 billion.]s Commercial banks, the Farm Credit System, the Farm Service Agency, individual businesses and cooperatives, and insurance companies all provide funds that farmers need to buy land, equip­ment, livestock, machinery, seed, fertilizer, and the other products they use in their daily farming opera­tions. Many of these same agencies are also involved with providing financial services to the agribusiness input suppliers and those that buy, transport, process, and market agricultural prod­ucts. These agribusinesses need credit and capital for their day-to-day operations, buildings, and equipment, just as farmers do.

Trade associations, as well as dairy and livestock associations, are vital to the agricultural industry. Every agribusiness and pro­duction agriculture enterprise has a trade associa­tion, society, or institute, which are supported by members who are active in a particular enterprise. Thousands of trade associations operate in Amer­ica. They serve agribusiness and promote certain agricultural products, and they have become an essential part of agribusiness relationships.

Associations perform a wide variety of services for their members in areas such as public relations, promotion, legislative lobbying, communications, sales training, auditing and record keeping, public­ity, transportation, research, and legislative and marketing information. These and similar services can be provided better by organized groups rather than by individuals. Members may pay dues to an association to receive its benefits, or producers may pay a check-off from sales of their products.

Agricultural cooper­atives serve many needs and engage in a variety of essential services to the agricultural industry. Over 4,200 cooperatives market agricultural prod­ucts and furnish the agricultural industry with production supplies and services. Their annual business volume is over $83 billion. Cooperatives market over one-quarter of all agricultural products and provide one-quarter of the production supplies for farmers. They also furnish electricity to the agricultural industry. Cooperatives enable livestock producers to better market their animals and improve dairy products through dairy herd improvement associations.

The United States has long played a major role in world agricultural trade and is rapidly increasing its role relative to most other countries. Currently, the United States is the major participant in inter­national trade of agricultural products. The five major farm commodities sold in world markets were feed grains and feed grain products, soybeans and soybean products, wheat and wheat products, live animals, meat and meat products, and vegetables, for a total value of $46.7 billion. In comparison, the total value of all agricultural exports was only $6 billion several decades ago. Almost every country of the world purchases some agri­cultural products from the United States.

In addition to being a major world exporter of agricultural products, the United States is also a major importer of agricultural products. Over a ten year period, annual farm imports increased from $4.45 billion to $10.50 billion, a 136 percent increase. Although the major quantity is imported from Latin America, Asia, and Europe, U.S. imports come from every continent except Antarctica. Although imports are greater than ever, the U.S. trade surplus (dollars exported minus dollars imported) was $18.9 billions

In addition to providing markets for American farmers, foreign exports provide additional advantages. Between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs are cre­ated in the United States for each billion dollars of agricultural exports. 94, Between 1.2 and 1.4 million full-time jobs could be attributed to American agricultural exports. Exports account for approxi­mately one-third of U.S. agricultural production. In many states, as much as one-half of farm income comes from agricultural exports.