Agricultural Trade Multipliers (ATM) provide annual estimates of employment and output effects of trade in farm and food products on the U.S. economy. When expressed as multipliers, these effects reflect the amount of economic activity and jobs generated by agricultural exports.
Exports constitute a significant market for U.S. farm and food products that send ripples of activity through the U.S. economy. For instance, grain exports first generate economic activity on the farm through input purchases such as fuel and fertilizer, spurring additional economic activity in the manufacturing, trade, and transportation sectors. Then entering grain into the export market requires data processing, financial, legal, managerial, and administrative services. This additional economic activity is estimated annually by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) using an Agricultural Trade Multiplier that measures the employment and output effects of trade in farm and food products on the U.S. economy. In 2023, U.S. agricultural exports valued at $175.5 billion had generated an additional $185.1 billion in economic activity, for a total of $360.7 billion in economic output. This means that, on average, every $1 of U.S. agricultural products exported generated a total of $2.05 of domestic economic activity. The services, trade, and transportation sector benefited the most from agricultural exports, generating an estimated $68.0 billion worth of additional economic activity. On the farm, agricultural exports supported an additional $68.2 billion of business activity beyond the value of the agricultural exports themselves.
The U.S. agricultural sector serves as a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, not only bolstering economic output but also serving as a key driver of employment across various sectors. The process of exporting agricultural goods initiates a chain reaction of labor demands that leads to widespread employment opportunities throughout the economy.
From cultivating the crop on the farm to facilitating its journey to market, each step generates employment opportunities in manufacturing, services, trade, and transportation, which affects jobs far beyond the agricultural sector. For instance, exporting soybeans requires on-farm labor and in the manufacturing, services, trade, and transportation sectors, encompassing a diverse range of jobs. Additionally, the production of inputs and services necessary for exporting soybeans supports even more jobs beyond the agricultural sector. In 2023, U.S. agricultural exports supported 1.01 million jobs. This number refers to full-time civilian jobs, as measured in full-time equivalents (FTEs), a conversion of the number of hours worked to an equivalent number of full-time positions. This translates to approximately 5,760 jobs for every $1 billion of agricultural products exported. Notably, the nonfarm sector benefited the most, generating around 691,900 jobs, while on the farm, agricultural exports supported 319,000 jobs. The top ten agricultural exports accounted for 53 percent of the total jobs created by U.S. agricultural exports, with soybean and corn bulk exports alone supporting over 182,000 jobs and bovine, chicken, and swine meat nonbulk exports supporting 147,500 jobs.
The above numbers were calculated with the inclusion of biodiesel as an agricultural product, given that soybean oil is the largest feedstock for U.S. biodiesel production, even though biodiesel is not classified by the WTO as an agricultural product. The inclusion of biodiesel adds about $1.5 billion to U.S. agricultural exports in 2023, bringing the total value of U.S. agricultural exports to $175.5 billion. Without biodiesel, in accordance with the WTO definition for agricultural products, U.S. agricultural exports instead totaled $174.0 billion in 2023.
The Agricultural Trade Multipliers estimates:
- Are derived from the 2017 Benchmark Input-Output tables published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis;
- Are adjusted annually to account for changes in prices and labor productivity (see the nonbase year estimation section of the Methodology in the Documentation page for details);
- Include detail on 124 agricultural products and product groups, ranging from soybeans to essential oils, using the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) definition of agricultural products;
- Are only for open multipliers at either the producer (farm or manufacturer) or port stage of export (see Step 2 below for further detail); and
- Are downloadable in machine-readable format.
See the Documentation page for information about assumptions and methodology underlying the USDA, ERS Estimates, as well as the Glossary for more information.
See the readme file for a description of the machine-readable file.