Bellevue

Helen Grierson
Cramton Company Real Estate
Phone: 402-896-5167
E-mail: grierson@mitec.net
The personal attention you deserve in buying or selling a home in the greater Omaha area.

North Platte

Wes Grady
Gateway Realty BH&G
Phone: 308-532-1810
E-mail: wjgrady@nponline.net
Serving West Central Ne with with A FULL SERVICE for all Real Eatate needs.

Scottsbluff

Rebecca Estrada
Monument Realty
Phone: 308-632-4970
E-mail: estrada@scottsbluff.net
Experienced Realtor dedicated to giving great service to my clients.

Most of the people working on farms in the 1990s were the farm operators or members of their families. Although some Nebraska farms are quite large, most are owned and operated by individuals and only a very few are owned by non-farm corporations. In 1982 Nebraska adopted Initiative 300, commonly called the Family Farm Preservation Act, a constitutional amendment that protects family farmers from the economic pressure of large agricultural corporations by prohibiting individual farmers from selling their land to nonfamily-farm corporations.

The sale of livestock and livestock products accounted for 63 percent of Nebraska’s farm income in 1999. Sales of cattle and calves make up four-fifths of farm income from livestock, although hogs are also important. One-fourth of total farm receipts are from the sale of corn, although much corn is fed to livestock on farms where it is raised. In 1997 it was the state’s leading crop, raised on 3.4 million hectares (8.3 million acres) of land. Other important crops included soybeans, wheat, hay, grain sorghum, dry beans, and sugar beets. In 1997, Nebraska ranked fourth in the nation in total farm sales, second in livestock sales, and seventh in crop sales. The state ranked third in the value of cattle and calf production, third in corn and grain sorghum, seventh in hogs, and seventh in soybeans.

The greatest share of mining activities in the state is focused on crushed stone, sand and gravel, and portland cement. Limestone, which is used for liming soils and in several cement plants, is produced in a number of eastern counties. Petroleum accounted for one-quarter of the state’s income from mineral production in 1997, but the state does not rank high nationally in oil production. Red Willow, Kimball, Cheyenne, and Banner counties in western Nebraska produce most of the state’s petroleum.

Nebraska has very little lumber production, mostly from small operations in the northwest.

Food processing is by far Nebraska’s most important industry, accounting for one-fourth of the state’s industrial income annually. The leading food-processing industry is meat-packing. Other food products include canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, flour, cereal, beverages, dairy products, livestock feeds, vegetable oils, and pasta. Corn processing yields a variety of products.

Other leading industries produce instruments, chemicals and drugs, machinery, and electrical equipment. Many of these industries are associated with agriculture; the state is an important producer of irrigation equipment and farm machinery. Printing and publishing are significant. Nebraska also produces transportation equipment, rubber and plastic goods, fabricated metals, and primary metals. Omaha is the chief manufacturing center. The second most important center is Lincoln.

Nebraska’s entire electrical power system is publicly owned. Most of the farms were electrified with the assistance of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). Thermal power plants burning fossil fuels, primarily coal, generate 62 percent of Nebraska’s electricity. Another 32 percent of Nebraska’s electricity is generated by nuclear power plants at Brownville and Fort Calhoun. The state’s small share of hydroelectric power comes from the Bureau of Reclamation’s dams on the Missouri River, in addition to hydroelectric plants in Colorado and Wyoming. The largest hydroelectric power plant in the state is located at Gavins Point.

Only two cities, Omaha and Lincoln, have been designated metropolitan areas in Nebraska. Together these areas contain more than one-half of the state’s population. The largest city, Omaha, with a 2000 population of 390,007 in the city proper, is Nebraska’s principal manufacturing center, and it also dominates the state’s retail and wholesale trade. The Omaha metropolitan area had a population of 716,998 in 2000, including people living around Council Bluffs in Iowa. Omaha contains a number of home and branch offices of the nation’s large insurance companies. Within a few miles of the city, at Offutt Air Force Base, is the center of operations of the United States Strategic Command.

Second in size is Lincoln, which had a population of 225,581 in 2000. Lincoln is the state capital and contains the University of Nebraska’s major campus and two other major colleges. Many insurance companies have home offices in the city, and for this reason, Lincoln has sometimes been called the Hartford of the Midwest. Grand Island, with 42,940 residents, is a railroad and distribution center for the surrounding agricultural area. Nebraska’s other principal cities and their 2000 populations are Bellevue, with 44,382 inhabitants; Kearney, with 27,431; Fremont, with 25,174; North Platte, with 23,878; and Hastings, with 24,064.