Raw Material-producing Industries

FARMS AND RANCHES

These provide our grains and other foodstuffs, milk cotton and cloth-making fibers, fruits and vegetables, rubber, hemp, leather, wool, and cattle and beef.

FOREST

These provide our lumber and other resources for a while variety of associated products, such as paper. Wildlife and game animals provide many raw materials as well as some food products.

MINES

These provide our goal, oil, copper, gold and silver, marble and other stones, ores of many kinds, diamonds, uranium, and even salt and other resources used to manufacture many products for industries and consumers.

WATERS

Our lakes, rivers, and oceans provide fish and other water-grown foods. Beach sand is used for making glass products. Waterfalls and dams in waterways provide hydroelectric power. And our drinking water comes from surfaces water or from drilled wells.

          This list makes it clear that our business world could not exist without its supplies of natural resources. The continued adequate supply of these raw materials is a matter of deep concern to nations and to individual industries. For this reason industries which use large amounts of ores, for example, try to secure the right to use existing mines in the future, just as timber companies seek the right to use our forest. They and our government support reforestation programs to make sure that timber supplies will not run out. In addition, programs to maintain the fertility of farmlands and to encourage the efficient growth of agricultural products are supported by both government and private organizations.
          In this great day of polyester fabrics, recycled paper, and other synthetic products, we must note the importance of raw materials that are produced by chemical processes. Our polyester clothing is made by applying oil by-products to other materials, and chemicals are used to recycle basic paper products. The recycling of aluminum cans is another example of how we reuse raw materials today.
          However, even if we had an unending supply of natural resources, we still would not have the final products we need. Resources must be converted into products through manufacturing processes, the next key segment of the business world