Economic Contributions of Florida's Agricultural,
Natural Resource, and Food and Kindred Product
Manufacturing, Distribution, and Service Industries in 2007
Alan W. Hodges and Mohammad Rahmani
Introduction
The state of Florida has nearly 24 million acres (36,000 square miles) in forests, croplands, and ranches, which is about two-thirds of its total land area. The agricultural and natural resource industries produce food, fiber, and mineral commodities. They are linked to a broad range of other economic sectors for food and kindred product manufacturing, wholesale and retail distribution, input supplies, support services, and nature-based recreation. In addition to farming, forestry, fisheries, and mining, this grouping of agricultural and natural resource industries includes other diverse activities such as fertilizer manufacturing, sawmills, fruit and vegetable processing, landscaping, wholesale food distributors, retail food stores, restaurants and other food service establishments, retail garden centers, pest control, golf courses, and recreational fishing. This report provides estimates of these industries' economic contributions to Florida in 2007, updating a previous study for 2006 (Hodges, Rahmani and Mulkey 2008).
Methods
Data for this analysis were obtained from the IMPLAN Professional database for Florida counties for 2001-07 (Minnesota IMPLAN Group) and from other special studies conducted by the authors. These data were derived from the National Income and Product Accounts for the United States (United States Department of Commerce 2008). Over 80 individual industry sectors in Florida were identified as related to agriculture and natural resource commodity production, input supply and supporting services, food and kindred product manufacturing and distribution, and nature-based recreation. Economic contributions were also evaluated for several recognizable industry commodity groups that have linkages between the production and processing/manufacturing sectors, including environmental horticulture (nursery and greenhouse production, landscape services, and retail lawn and garden centers); fruit and vegetable farming and processing; forestry, logging and forest product manufacturing; sugarcane and refined sugar manufacturing; livestock and animal products manufacturing; fishing; and seafood products.
Economic Contributions by Industry Groups and Sectors
The industries are categorized into seven major groups:
Crop
Livestock
Forestry and fisheries production
Mining
Agricultural inputs and services
Food and kindred products manufacturing
Forest products manufacturing
Food and kindred products distribution
Nature-based recreation.
Excluding the sectors for food and kindred products distribution, such as restaurants, food stores and wholesalers, total economic values were as follows:
| Output | $62.67 billion |
|---|---|
| Exports | $33.13 billion |
| Output impacts | $103.63 billion |
| Direct employment | 418,003 jobs |
| Employment impacts | 763,065 jobs |
| Direct value added | $21.29 billion |
| Value-added impacts | $44.77 billion |
| Labor income impacts | $28.04 billion |
| Property income impacts | $13.16 billion |
| Indirect business tax impacts | $3.58 billion |
Crop, livestock, forestry, and fisheries production includes sectors for production of basic unrefined food and fiber commodities. In 2007:
| Total output was | $11.30 billion |
|---|---|
| Exports were | $6.52 billion |
| Output impacts were | $20.23 billion |
| Direct value added was | $6.48 billion |
| Value-added impacts were | $11.90 billion |
| Direct employment was | 172,482 jobs |
| Total employment impacts were | 264,964 jobs |
Among individual industry sectors in this group, the highest value-added and employment impacts were in:
| Fruit farming | $2.59 billion | 50,189 jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production | $2.55 billion | 36,223 jobs |
| Support activities for agriculture and forestry | $2.03 billion | 86,054 jobs |
| Vegetable and melon farming | $1.75 billion | 25,288 jobs |
Large value-added and employment impacts were also registered for the sectors of:
| Forestry and timber tracts | $991 million | 14,062 jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial logging | $503 million | 4,649 jobs |
| Sugarcane farming | $351 million | 16,150 jobs |
Value-added impacts of $100 to $200 million were observed for dairy farming, beef cattle ranching and farming, poultry and egg production, commercial fishing, and all other crop farming.
Mining is a natural-resource-based activity for the extraction of basic mineral commodities such as oil, natural gas, stone, sand, gravel, clay, phosphate, and a variety of metals. In 2007, the mining industries in Florida collectively had:
| Direct output of | $4.41 billion |
| Exports of | $2.22 billion |
| Output impacts of | $7.58 billion |
| Value-added impacts of | $3.40 billion |
| Direct employment of | 11,877 jobs |
| Employment impacts of | 37,207 jobs |
Economic Contributions in Florida Regions and Counties
Regional impacts of agriculture, natural resources, food manufacturing, distribution, and related service industries in 2007 were evaluated for nine economic regions of Florida:
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale | $29.82 billion | 596,271 jobs |
| Orlando | $22.04 billion | 458,740 jobs |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg | $15.39 billion | 301,786 jobs |
| Jacksonville | $10.66 billion | 166,391 jobs |
| Sarasota-Bradenton | $8.41 billion | 184,877 jobs |
| Pensacola | $2.43 billion | 56,959 jobs |
| Gainesville | $2.35 billion | 51,758 jobs |
| Tallahassee | $1.95 billion | 43,047 jobs |
| Panama City | $1.24 billion | 26,290 jobs |
Economic impacts were also evaluated for all 67 counties in Florida. The largest counties in terms of value-added impacts and employment impacts in 2007 were:
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale | $29.82 billion | 596,271 jobs |
| Miami-Dade | $11.37 billion | 204,105 jobs |
| Hillsborough | $9.46 billion | 172,481 jobs |
| Duval | $7.84 billion | 112,440 jobs |
| Orange | $7.81 billion | 147,289 jobs |
| Palm Beach | $6.94 billion | 147,783 jobs |
| Broward | $6.87 billion | 137,512 jobs |
| Pinellas | $4.78 billion | 93,861 jobs |
| Polk | $4.41 billion | 78,454 jobs |
Share of Gross State Product and Employment
The relative importance of the agriculture, natural resources, and related food and service industries in Florida can be gauged by its share of overall economic activity in the state. The Gross State Product (GSP) of Florida in 2007 was $716 billion (2008 U.S. dollars), which is equivalent to the sum of value added by all industries. Total employment in the state was 10.3 million jobs.
The direct value added contributed by agriculture, natural resources, and related food and service industries ($58.62 billion) represented 8.2 percent of Florida's GSP. Agriculture, natural resources and related food and service industries ranked fourth among major industry groups. Direct employment in these industries represented 13.3 percent of all jobs in the state; these industries ranked second among major industry groups. Excluding food and kindred products distribution, the agriculture, natural resources, and related industries represented 3.0 percent of Florida's GSP and 4.1 percent of Florida's total state employment.
Conclusions
This analysis shows that agriculture and natural resources are linked to a broad array of economic sectors for commodity production, and food and kindred product manufacturing, distribution, and related service activities. These industries collectively have a significant economic impact on the Florida economy, accounting for about 8.2 percent of Florida's GSP and 13.3 percent of Florida's total employment, which is ranked second among major industry groups. Food and kindred products distribution is by far the largest segment of the industry, representing 52 percent of value-added impacts and 59 percent of employment impacts. These industries are present throughout the state, with major activity in urbanized metropolitan areas, as well as rural counties, where it may be relatively more important as a share of total economic activity, although less in absolute magnitude. The industries have grown substantially since 2001; however, growth significantly slowed during 2006-07, along with the overall Florida and U.S. economies.
In addition to these estimates of commercial activity and employment, agricultural and forest lands provide valuable non-marketed environmental services for water supply, water quality improvement, pollution abatement, erosion control and shoreline protection, carbon sequestration and climate stabilization, wildlife habitat, and open space for community buffers and outdoor recreation. These non-market values, however, are beyond the scope of this analysis.
Footnotes
This is EDIS document FE800, a publication of the Food and Resource Economics Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Published April 2009. Please visit the EDIS web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
Alan W. Hodges, extension scientist, and Mohammad Rahmani, coordinator of economic analysis, Food and Resource Economics Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
