BUSINESS OF FARMING
How Big is the Ag Industry? T
here are moments in life when an experience will completely change your perspective about something. I almost hate to admit it took me this long to have my eyes opened about agriculture. Agriculture in Alabama is such a crucial part of our economy and our daily lives. We know farmers. We see farms and fields, and equipment. Produce stands dot the roadsides during the summer. Cattle grazing is a commonplace sight. Ag is everywhere and we may even take it for granted. But do we really appreciate the vastness of the industry in Alabama, or the nation or globally for that matter? It took some 40-odd years for this to click for me – in Ohio of all places. Ohio, one of those nondescript states known for what? Buckeye trees, football, a few large cities, aviation, and a sitcom that proclaimed Cleveland rocks. Not necessarily vacation destination in my mind. For those from the state, I’d like to apologize for my
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Cooperative Farming News
misconception of your home because my perspective is forever changed about the state and, because of Ohio, my view of agriculture has changed. Agriculture is big, really big. Not just numbers of acres you read in a report big, but actually big. Miles and miles of rolling, uninterrupted corn and soybean fields big. The state has roughly 14 million acres of farmland compared to our roughly 9 million, but, unlike our smaller fields broken by tree lines, their fields seem to stretch forever as you drive. That’s what it took to get the point to sink in as to how big of an industry agriculture truly is in our state and across our country. Not just the country, but across the globe. In fact, agriculture encompasses approximately one-third of land use in the world! From an economic standpoint, Alabama agriculture generates over $70 billion annually. For Ohio, 2016’s impact of agriculture was over $53 billion not including any forestry-related operations. Billions of dollars from
