U.S. agricultural exports support output, employment, income, and purchasing power in the farm and non-farm sectors.
USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that every $1 billion of U.S. agricultural exports in 2016 required approximately 8,100 American jobs throughout the economy. At $134.7 billion in 2016, agricultural exports required 1,097,000 full-time civilian jobs. This included 764,000 non-farm sector jobs.
Starting around 2004, a divergence appeared between the estimated numbers of farm and non-farm jobs, with the latter accounting for a rising share of total employment supported by agricultural exports. This growing importance of non-farm jobs is consistent with the upward trend in the job numbers supported by non-bulk exports, which rely on a broader range of businesses (e.g., food processing, services, and other manufacturing) than bulk goods like soybeans, corn, and other feed grains. Non-bulk commodities account for the majority of U.S. agricultural exports and continue to support the majority of jobs dependent on agricultural exports. — USDA ERS
