Ag predicts the World Cup champions

Jul 12, 2018

France and Croatia will meet this Sunday to battle for soccer’s greatest prize

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Two European teams remain in the competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

France and Croatia outplayed 30 other teams for the right to play for the biggest prize in soccer on Sunday in Moscow, Russia.

The main storylines surrounding the game involve a French team possibly winning its first World Cup since 1998 and a Croatian squad, considered by many people to be a dark horse in the tournament, looking for its first World Cup title.

While most soccer analysts rely on formations and scoring ability to determine the winner, Farms.com will use the ag stats from the two competing countries.

The information used in the chart comes from each country’s most recent ag census and other national information.

** Signals advantage for each team.

	France	Croatia
National soccer logo
Total population	66.9 million	4.17 million
Number of farms	489,980 **	233,280
Total ag acres (millions)	66.62 **	3.25
Average farm acreage	135 **	13
Ag labour force	966,290 people **	229,200 people
Wheat production (2017-18)	40 million tonnes **	865,000 tonnes
Ag exports (US$ in billions 2017)	$71.56**	$1.82
Cattle inventory (2015)	19,095,797 head	442,000 head

Based on our analysis, France will be the 2018 FIFA World Cup champions!

Major-Kord/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.