Farming is not only an ancient profession, it is an essential one. With world population topping 7 billion, farmers are under pressure to produce the highest yield per acre that they can manage. In fact, in the last 60 years, the average farmer has managed to almost triple their crop output, which is good news for the profession and for consumers.
Where farms used to exclusively sell their goods to the local community, the advent of refrigerated transport vehicles in the last 90 years enables farmers to have a reach that could be statewide, national, or even international.
The heavy equipment industry not only functions to improve farm function, but works to transport salable goods to a much wider buying audience. Five years ago, there were more than 3.8 million trucks worldwide that were capable of keeping food cool for transport for sale. Costing more than $60,000 apiece and classified as heavy equipment, food transporters are a fundamental tool in our global economy.
Food is not the only commodity that needs transportation via heavy equipment. Horses and cows are often transported by train or by attached trailer on highways. With over 60 million horses in America alone, the transportation of horses to new living environments occurs on a daily basis.
The heavy equipment involved with horse transport has to meet certain specifications: ceilings of horse trailers must be at least two and a half feet above the horses’ shoulders.
Construction equipment and industrial equipment for mining is also considered heavy equipment and must be transported to its new location. And like farmers who export abroad, heavy equipment contractors are finding a global audience: there are parts of the world where the native mineral content is so high that they are beginning to import heavy equipment for mining from American exporters.
In a billion dollar industry, farmers, construction companies, animal sales companies, and mining industries are all reaching far beyond their local and state boundaries and are having major success exporting their goods to a global audience.
