Ag and Food Sectors and the Economy
The U.S. agriculture sector extends beyond the farm business to include a range of farm-related industries. Agriculture, food, and related industries contributed 5.5 percent to U.S. gross domestic product and provided 10.4 percent of U.S. employment; Americans' expenditures on food amount to 12.8 percent of household budgets, on average. Among Federal Government outlays on farm and food programs, nutrition assistance far outpaces other programs.
Agriculture , food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.420 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, a 5.5-percent share. The output of America’s farms contributed $223.5 billion of this sum—about 0.9 percent of U.S. GDP. The overall contribution of agriculture to GDP is larger than 0.9 percent because sectors related to agriculture rely on agricultural inputs to contribute added value to the economy. Sectors related to agriculture include food and beverage manufacturing; food and beverage stores; food services and eating/drinking places; textiles, apparel, and leather products; and forestry and fishing.
In 2022, 22.1 million full- and part-time jobs were related to the agricultural and food sectors—10.4 percent of total U.S. employment. Direct on-farm employment accounted for about 2.6 million of these jobs, or 1.2 percent of U.S. employment. Employment in agriculture- and food-related industries supported another 19.6 million jobs. Of this, food services, eating and drinking places accounted for the largest share—12.7 million jobs—and food/beverage stores supported 3.3 million jobs. The remaining agriculture-related industries together added another 3.5 million jobs.