Fish catch per year: 5.17m tonnes

Oil production and reserves: 7.7m b/d (reserves 30.4bn barrels)

Estimated livestock resources: 96.7m cattle, 88m turkeys, 59.1m pigs, 1.94bn chickens

Main mineral resources: Phosphates, gypsum, oil, coal, sulfur, lead, zinc, copper, gold

ELECTRICITY GENERATION

The US has an abundance of natural resources, including oil. The 2001 energy plan aimed to step up oil exploration and output, reducing the need for imports. There are massive deposits of coal in the western states – where almost all mining is open-cast – and substantial mineral deposits in the mountains and intramontane basins.

Nuclear power is becoming increasingly important as an energy source with 28% of nuclear power generated from just three states: Ilinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The timber industry, forced to retreat by conservationists in the Pacific northwest, especially Washington State, has moved to the south, where great stands of pine are harvested as if they were fields of wheat. Hydropower dominates the domestic renewable sources of energy. Other sources are small-scale but growing.

In comparison with western Europe, the US is not intensively farmed. The huge size of farms in the Midwest and west has allowed both arable and livestock farming to be based on a low-input for low-output model.

From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference" © Dorling Kindersley 2004