American free trade

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American Free Trade
Agriculture has changed, and people are required to change and adapt to the modern form of production. Due to increased population, more production is required using the scarce resource such as land (Ringler 617). Therefore, producers’ are forced to use fossil resources to increase production to meet the needs of the consumers. Energy use in agriculture is very important, and it helps to maintain the quality of food that reaches people in their households. Customers require quality product and adding value to the product it requires a lot of energy which is used in various agriculture activities. A lot of energy is used in the supply chain of agricultural goods and services (Ringler 618). This paper seeks to address the impact that agriculture makes in the energy consumption and the influence it has on the American free trade.
Importance of energy in Agriculture
The modern agriculture consumes a lot of energy each year making an impact on the united state energy budget. Energy use starts during production activities. The energy consumed during crop production include that used for growth and cultivation activities, fertilizer application, pesticide, and herbicide application as well as using various machinery on the farm. The second importance of energy in agricultural food production is transport to the end consumer. The energy used in transport is almost 14% of the total energy used in agriculture (Ringler 617). The third factor is food processing which uses approximately 16% of the energy consumed considering the growing preference for processed food among people.

Lastly, energy is also used in food handling which consumes more than half of the energy used in agricultural production and manufacturing. Handling activities consuming energy include packaging, services, sales as well as household energy consumption.
Benefits and Drawbacks of producing and manufacturing in different locations
Most of the time we have seen food production companies producing raw material in specific areas and processing in different locations. The exercise has both advantages and disadvantages. The pro includes the fact that food should be manufactured close to the consumers especially for the degradable products (Ringler 619). The second advantage is reducing the cost of transporting value-added products which are delicate. The cons of using different location include increased transport cost in transporting bulk raw material to the manufacturers. The second con is high energy consumption is the transportation of raw material instead of finished goods (Ringler 619). Last but not least, moving to manufacture away from the production area lead to shifts in job opportunities to other areas leading to rural-urban migration.
Impact of Moving To Retail Facilities
There are several impacts which are evident when the production and manufacturing and done between countries. One of the impacts is the increased cost of production which is influenced by high transport cost especially across geographical areas (Ringler 620). The second impact on retailers is that they are affected by the movement which will lead to the access of cheap labor in other countries like China. Cheap labor reduces the cost of production which reflect of the costs of the product. Moving to manufacture to other location means that the plants in the original location can be closed and many retailers are forced to outsource products which were originally present in their location (Ringler 623). However, new retailers can emerge when the manufacturing of food is brought close to them making them prosper in their activities.
Conclusion
Agricultural products on and related activities have changed over time and farmers are now depended on energy for their activities. Energy has made it possible to produce high-quality products faster which help to meet the needs of the consumers. The beginning and finishing goods in different places have pros and cons which are influenced by the amount of energy consumed. The effect of starting production and manufacturing and finishing in different place affect some retailers and makes it easier for those close to the finishing location. The process also reduces the cost of transport which would have been incurred by the retailers.
Works Cited
Ringler, Claudia, Anik Bhaduri, and Richard Lawford. “The nexus across water, energy, land, and food (WELF): potential for improved resource use efficiency?.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5.6 (2013): 617-624.