AEM provides economic footprint of agriculture equipment industry
In-Depth Analysis of Agriculture Industry Impact on American Economy
AEM News Release.
The important contribution of U.S. agriculture equipment manufacturing to the health of the nation’s economy is demonstrated in a new economic paper produced by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
In an in-depth analysis of the economic footprint of the agriculture equipment industry, the paper quantifies the many-sided economic impacts of the manufacturing, distribution, and use of agriculture equipment and machinery, including that in 2011, 78,200 people were directly employed in U.S. farm equipment manufacturing and the total economic footprint of the agricultural industry – including upstream and downstream industries – came in at $51 billion.
“The purpose of this white paper is to provide a better look at the agriculture equipment industry’s effect on U.S. workers and our economy as a whole, with an eye toward better arming our policy makers in Washington with the information they need to make sound policy decisions that impact this critical sector,” said AEM President Dennis Slater. “By measuring vital information such as the agriculture industry’s ability to bounce back from the ‘Great Recession,’ direct and indirect employment and economic scope, we are able to better understand how we can grow jobs and keep this industry strong for generations to come,” Slater continued. “This kind of information is vital to accurately assessing the potential long-term consequences of decisions being weighed as we are debating issues such as the renewable fuels standard and international trade agreements that directly impact the future of American agriculture.”
A big part of the economic footprint is jobs; 78,000 were directly employed in ag equipment manufacturing but there are another 118,000 working in upstream suppliers and 117,000 in the downstream businesses. “You are looking at almost 400,000 people employed by the sector. And these are high-paying jobs with the average salary at $67,000. “This is a highly-skilled industry and one that we want to attract very highly-skilled laborers to.” One of the challenges the industry faces is getting that labor force.
Looking ahead, the industry will play a key role in feeding a global population expected to hit 9 billion people by the middle of this century. O’Brien says plainly, “We have to be much more productive than we are today even as productive as we are today.” He says the equipment manufacturers are investing millions each year in research and development to make sure the tools farmers use “are in lockstep with what’s going on with developments on the inputs side.”
Part of that challenge is for the industry to not only meet the needs of the technologically-advanced farmers of North America and Europe but also the needs of those regions of the world which are still mainly dependent on hand-labor today. O’Brien says many companies are multi-national and are positioned to fill those needs and help bring those developing countries up-to-speed, “bringing the technology there as it is adopted.” He points to a number of North American companies which have already expanded into other parts of the world.