What Are Oklahoma’s Natural Resources?
Oklahoma’s natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, iodine, fertile soil, livestock, coal, limestone, sand and gravel. All of these natural resources offer many employment opportunities in various areas, including agriculture, mining and manufacturing. Many of these natural resources are shipped to other states, but many are used in Oklahoma as well.
The two natural resources mined the most in Oklahoma are petroleum and natural gas. Because of the abundance of these products, Oklahoma is one of the leading suppliers for the United States. There is a large coal mining segment in the state, and a great deal of the state’s electricity is produced from coal. Much of the manufacturing in Oklahoma produces field machinery to extract the mining products from the ground. Oklahoma is the only state in which iodine is produced. Iodine is used in many manufacturing industries around the country.
The fertile soil provides Oklahoma with the ability to produce wheat, which is the state’s most valuable crop, followed by hay. Peanuts, soybeans, cotton, grain sorghum and corn also grow abundantly. Pecans and peaches thrive in the fertile soil. Farmers raise and sell cattle, chicken, turkey and fish. They also provide hogs to the state’s many meat packaging plants.
