2024 Feeding the Economy Report Shows Agriculture’s Economic Impact
Micheal Clements
News Service Editor, NAFB
Roger Cryan
Chief Economist
photo credit: AFBF
The 2024 Feeding the Economy report shows agriculture’s economic impact in the United States. Micheal Clements shares more on the report, which includes state-by-state and congressional district information.
Clements: The 2024 Feeding the Economy report demonstrates the broad reach of the U.S. agricultural sector, drilling down to the state and congressional district level. Roger Cryan, American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist, says the report spans the entire agriculture supply chain.
Cryan: It's an effort to put together the impact of agriculture on the economy. The report goes over the impact of agriculture upstream and downstream. And, of course, farmers are at the heart of that, but it starts with the folks that supply farmers and goes all the way out to the to the folks that eat.
Clements: The report finds that agriculture accounts for more than one-third of the entire U.S. economy.
Cryan: The direct impact of the food supply chain from farm to retail was about 24 million jobs, about $990 billion in wages and $3.8 trillion in economic activity. When you add in the multiplied impacts, it’s more than doubled to 49 million jobs and $2.8 trillion in wages and $9.6 trillion in economic activity.
Clements: Cryan says the report is a key tool for advocating on behalf of agriculture, especially when it comes to the farm bill.
Cryan: The agricultural supply chain is everywhere. It's critically important to the economy, let alone how important is just to feed and clothe people. Numbers like this can help drive home to everybody in every state the importance to them of the agricultural economy, and why it's so important to recognize that we need a farm bill to support that enormous engine for economic activity.
Clements: Find the report at feedingtheeconomy.com. Micheal Clements, Washington.
