There are several regional groups: THE CHICAGO GROUP, THE CALIFORNIA GROUP, THE CLEVELAND GROUP, THE BOSTON GROUP, THE PHILADELPHIA GROUP, THE TEXAS GROUP,...
Powerful independent financial groups have been formed around the biggest banks: the First National City bank of New York and the Bank of America (in San Francisco).

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY
The U.S. has a leading position in the world's agricultural production, both in output and in productivity. Livestock production includes beef cattle, daily cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Crop production includes corn, wheat, soybeans, potatoes, cottons, tobacco, other crops grown in the U.S., are e.g. beans, sugar cane, sugar beet, rice, barley, vegetables.

The principal agricultural areas in the U.S. are:

1) THE CORN BELT covering mainly the states of Iowa, Indiana, Illinois in the Midwest
2) THE WHEAT BELT, which is subdivided into:
the spring wheat region - North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and
the winter wheat region - Kansas, neighbouring states
3) THE GREAT PLAINS REGION, which specialises in beef cattle raising
4) THE HAY AND DAIRY BELT, where dairy farming prevails - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York State, New England
5) THE COTTON BELT on the south stretching from North Carolina to Texas
6) THE TOBACCO BELT - Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia
7) THE INTERMONTANE PLATEAU between the Rocky Mountain and the Sierra Nevada, which is the main sheep farming area
8) CALIFORNIA, which is the main fruit-growing area (citrus as well as others fruits)
9) THE GULF COAST REGION (Louisiana), where rice and sugar cane are grown. Pigs are kept mainly in the Corn Belt, while poultry farming is concentrated, in New England, New York State, Delaware, California.

Although there are still many small and medium-sized farms operated mainly by the farmer and his family, the big farms play the decisive role in supplying the market with agricultural products. The biggest farms (of more than 400 ha each) account for about 80% of agricultural production.

 2,275,000 farms in the U.S.
 181 ha per farm
 27% raising and pasture
 19% cultivated
 32% forest
 22% urban areas

REGIONS
The U.S. is generally divided into 4 regions: the North-East, the Midwest, the South and the West.

1) THE NORTH-EAST can historically be characterised as the oldest part of the U.S. Economically, it's the most important part of the U.S., the most highly industrialised. We often speak of the ‘industrialised North-East’. It has the largest percentage of urban population. The chain of cities extending from Boston to Washington has been called the ‘Atlantic Metropolitan Belt’.