NGFA celebrates critical role of food and ag through new ‘Feeding The Economy’ report

ARLINGTON, Va., March 23, 2021 — The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) celebrates National Ag Day by highlighting a new, nationwide economic impact study —  commissioned by 33 food and agriculture groups and available at www.FeedingTheEconomy.com — that reinforces agriculture’s incredible impact on the nation’s economy.

Over the past year, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has served as a reminder of the critical role that the U.S. food and agriculture industries play in a resilient food supply chain, fueling the nation and ensuring that Americans are supplied with an abundance of safe food.

“On this National Ag Day, NGFA celebrates the noble purpose this nation’s grain, feed, processing and export industry performs in transforming the American farmer’s bounty into safe, nutritious, sustainable and affordable human and animal food,” said NGFA President and CEO Mike Seyfert. “As the COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrated, a reliable food and fiber supply chain is critically important to meeting the needs of families and businesses across the nation. The new Feeding The Economy report emphasizes the tremendous contribution of our industry in also feeding and growing the nation’s economy.”

The economic impact study released today shows that one fifth of the nation’s economy and one quarter of American jobs are linked to the food and agriculture sectors, either directly or indirectly. Additionally, the analysis broke down the food and agriculture sectors’ economic impact by state and congressional district. Here are the key findings:

• Total Jobs: 40,714,808
• Total Wages: $2.04 trillion
• Total Taxes: $797.22 billion
• Exports: $155.58 billion
• Total Food and Industry Economic Impact: $6.975 trillion

This historic farm-to-fork economic analysis quantifies the impact of the jobs, wages, taxes, and exports the industry makes possible. To measure the total economic impact of the sectors, the analysis also includes the indirect and induced economic activity surrounding these industries, which captures upstream and downstream activity.

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NGFA, established in 1896, consists of more than 1,000 grain, feed, processing, exporting and other grain-related companies that operate more than 7,000 facilities and handle more than 70 percent of all U.S. grains and oilseeds. Its membership includes grain elevators; feed and feed ingredient manufacturers; biofuels companies; grain and oilseed processors and millers; exporters; livestock and poultry integrators; and associated firms that provide goods and services to the nation’s grain, feed and processing industry. NGFA also consists of 33 affiliated State and Regional Grain and Feed Associations, and NGFA is co-located and has a strategic alliance with North American Export Grain Association, and a strategic alliance with Pet Food Institute.