Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 7/22/21


A new industry snapshot – the latest in an annual series that North Carolina State University Professor Emeritus Mike Walden began compiling in the 1980s – shows that over 17%, or $95.9 billion of the $562 billion gross state product, was contributed by value-added income from food, natural fiber and forestry industries in 2019. That’s up from $92.7 billion in 2018.

Walden, of NC State’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, said that agriculture and agribusiness also provided jobs for over 789,000 of the state’s ¬¬¬4.5 million employees.

Data Details
The report reflects jobs and income in farming, manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing, following the supply chain from production to consumption.

In 2019, farming constituted a $16.9 billion endeavor in North Carolina and served as the backbone for a what Walden calls the state’s Number One industry: agriculture and agribusiness. Manufacturing and processing of food, natural fiber and forest products generated $39.5 billion; wholesaling, $13.3 billion; and retailing, $26.5 billion. Retailing includes restaurants and food, apparel and furniture stores.

Walden’s figures reflect value-added incomes: At the farm level, value-added is sales. At the manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing levels, it does not include the value of inputs produced outside of North Carolina, and it avoids over-counting of products used several times in the production chain, Walden explained.

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