Essential Geographic Skill: Scale

Consider the maps of milk production on pages 349.

1. Describe milk production in the US when the data is viewed at a national scale.

2. Describe milk production in the US when the data is viewed at the sub-national (state) scale .

3. Describe milk production in the Western US when data is viewed at the scale of individual dairy farms (map at right).

4. Compare the map of US milk production per capita (p. 345) to the map of the distribution of the American “dairy belt” on page 336. Explain why the information regarding milk production in these two maps does not “match.”