A new study shows that agriculture plays a big role in the success of the overall U.S. economy. More than one-fourth of the nation’s job total and more than one-fifth of the nation’s economy are tied, either directly or indirectly, to the food and agriculture sectors. A coalition of 23 agriculture groups commissioned the economic impact study that came out last week.
It’s the foundation of a new website called Feeding the Economy. Among some of the bigger report highlights, it shows that the total number of food and ag job come in at 45.5 million. The total wages amount to $2.06 trillion, with total taxes on the income at just over $913 billion. Agriculture exports total $154.4 trillion. The total food and industry economic impact is $7.06 trillion.
On the
website, there is an interactive map that helps you pull up data for states and congressional districts. For Oklahoma, the group claims that agriculture helps provide 570,000 jobs with a total food and industry economic impact of $74.5 billion dollars.
“While more and more Americans are becoming interested in the food they eat, we must ensure they know the value of what farmers and ranchers do,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said. “Everyone can benefit from knowing of the great contributions of agriculture to our economy, to our rural communities, to our security, to our culture and yes, to our natural resources. We need resources like the Feeding The Economy.com report to better tell this story.”
“A lot of people don’t understand the significant effects agriculture has on their lives. The more resources farmers and ranchers have at their disposal to help connect with folks in their community and talk more about the economic significance of farming and ranching, the more those much-needed conversations can take place,” said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota.
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