Letter from Phil Kirk

Agribusiness Feeds the Economy

Agriculture and agribusiness are BIG in North Carolina. In fact, real big!

Last year’s revenues from agriculture and agribusiness accounted for more than $62.6 billion in North Carolina income, which was more than one-fifth of our state’s income. In fact, 22 percent of the state’s $282 billion gross state product was contributed by food, fiber and forestry industries.

Agribusiness is also the state’s top job provider, employing 771,000 North Carolinians or 20 percent of our 3.9 million workforce.

We rank in the top four states in the United States in production of tobacco, poultry, hogs, sweet potatoes, cucumbers for pickles, trout sold, egg products, lima beans, turnip and collard greens, bell peppers, peanuts, greenhouse and nursery cash receipts, strawberries and Christmas trees.

Erica Upton Peterson, executive vice president of the North Carolina Agribusiness Council, said this recently: “With annual revenues of $62.6 billion, our industry drives all other sectors of the economy and provides the fundamental necessities of life. If North Carolina is going to prosper, agriculture and agribusiness will be the driving force. Agriculture and related businesses are part of the solution to the current economic dilemma.”

Americans and North Carolinians, unlike most people in the world, seldom worry about not having access to food. Grocery stores are now open 24 hours a day, food stamps are provided to the truly needy, and the Food Banks, Meals-on-Wheels, Food Shuttles and soup kitchens provide nutritious meals to the elderly, the poor, and the unemployed.

In 1950, Americans spent 22 percent of their income on food. Today, we spend less than nine percent of our expendable income on food. Compare what your food costs would be if you lived in other nations: 11 percent in United Kingdom, 17 percent in Japan, 27 percent in Africa and 53 percent in India.

That’s because the agribusiness industry has combined land, labor, money and ingenuity to produce more while decreasing cost. Indeed, Americans cannot consume all the food produced in the United States, with 25 percent exported to feed the rest of the world.

Leaner meats, better packaging and processing, and reduced occurrence of food-borne diseases all provide the comfort and security of knowing that the necessities of life are safer and better for us.

Those in agribusiness are also among the true environmentalists. They live on the land and cannot survive if the land is not healthy.

Agribusiness involves many areas beyond the farm — processing facilities, transportation, financiers, wholesalers and retailers. It also involves service organizations such as banks, utilities and insurance companies.

Regulatory pressures, urban sprawl and all-time low commodity prices threaten the livelihood of the people who provide our food, fiber and forestry products.

And while the future of the tobacco industry in North Carolina seems uncertain right now, our state still produces more tobacco than any other. Therefore, any attack on tobacco is an attack on North Carolina. Too many politicians seem to forget this fact in the name of political expedience.

North Carolina’s extension and research programs work with all segments of the agriculture industry to ensure safer and healthier products for our citizens. Over the past century, every $1 the public has invested in agricultural research and education has returned $8 in terms of a safer and more affordable food supply.

Advances in biotechnology have resulted in better tasting fruits and vegetables that stay fresh longer and are naturally resistant to insects. Innovations in plant breeding have resulted in crops better able to handle the environmental effects of drought, disease, and insect infestations. Using satellite maps and computer models, precision farming enables farmers to use less production inputs to produce a higher quality, higher yielding crop, keeping the cost of food down for U.S. consumers.

Agricultural research in North Carolina is more important than ever. At 16 research stations across the state, N.C. State’s Agricultural Research Service, in partnership with NCDA&CS, focuses on ways to solve production problems that cut into yield and profit, developing high-value alternative crops and enterprises.

NCCBI recognized the importance of agriculture and agribusiness by passing a resolution in support of this important sector of our state’s economy. We have vowed to work against any laws or regulations which would be harmful and to advocate for any helpful actions.

For more information, call 919-782-4063.

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