West Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa is known for its many thousands of acres of fertile farmland which help to feed perhaps millions of people around the world, and a new report details just how valuable the agriculture industry is to the state.
Brent Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, says the report just confirms what we already know, that agriculture is vital to our state’s economy and identity.
When that $96.5 billion figure is trickled down to Main Street and other industries, he says it quickly more than doubles to nearly 222 billion dollars. Even through the past few years with the pandemic, Johnson says agriculture saw steady gains.
A USDA study found that between 1948 and 2019, land use for agriculture decreased by 28 percent, while land productivity grew nearly four times, and labor productivity grew more than 10 times. Johnson says farmers are growing significantly more food on less land.
Johnson, a fifth-generation farmer in Calhoun County, says the organization continues to strive to find ways to help farmers adapt and improve.
Nationwide, the report shows the US food and agriculture sector directly supports nearly 23 million jobs, provides 927 billion dollars in wages, and contributes over eight-point-six trillion dollars to the U-S economy, a 22 percent increase since the 2019 report. The annual “Feeding the Economy” report is being released by 25 food and agriculture groups. See the full report at: www.FeedingTheEconomy.com.
