US Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1.9 million farms and establishments involved in agricultural support, forestry, fishing, and hunting make up the sector. Establishments in this sector are focused on propagating and harvesting plants and animals for food, materials, and sport. While the vast majority of operations are small or family-owned businesses, corporate enterprises are entering the sector at a growing rate.
Food Safety and Traceability
Intentional and unintentional contamination of the US food supply is a growing concern.
Changes in Government Support
The agricultural and fishing subsectors benefit from government subsidies that increase income and reduce risk and costs.
Industry size & Structure
The agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector comprises 23,300 establishments and 1.9 million farms that together employ over 1 million workers and generate about $616.8 billion in annual revenue.
- The sector represents 1.4% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 0.7% of the country's workers.
- The sector is highly fragmented, dominated by independent farms and owner-operated businesses.
- In addition to employer establishments, the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector (aside from farms) has 255,956 owner-operated establishments with no employees. Subsectors with the highest numbers of nonemployer establishments are crop support services (26%); fishing (24%); and animal support services (23%). The owners of nonemployer firms typically perform the work and may outsource support functions like marketing and accounting.
- Overall employment in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations is projected to decline over the next decade. From 2022 to 2032, the agricultural workforce is expected to shed 16,000 jobs, with little or no change for fishing and hunting workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Logging is projected to shed 2,400 jobs and forestry and conservation to decline by 1,000 positions.
Industry Forecast
US Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Nov 16, 2024 - Farm Price Indexes Mixed
- The prices farmers receive for crops are falling, while prices received for livestock are rising, according to the latest USDA data. Prices received by farmers for all crops sank 15.5% in August compared to a year ago, while the index for prices received for all livestock products jumped 18.2% over the same period. Meanwhile, the prices paid by farmers index for all products – a measure of prices paid by producers for agricultural chemicals (including fertilizer), farm machinery, feeds, fuels, and retail seed – fell 2.5% in August from a year ago, with the prices paid index for all crops dipping 0.7% year over year, while the index for livestock fell 2.2% over the same period.
- While bird flu is having a widespread impact on the US agricultural sector it’s hitting turkeys and eggs the hardest, Farm Bureau reported in November. Since 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has affected 14.2 million turkeys. According to USDA’s October Livestock Poultry Outlook, 2024 turkey production is forecast at 5.1 billion pounds, down 6.3% from 2023. Facing virus-related losses, farmers raised 205 million turkeys in 2024, down 6% from 2023 and the lowest number since 1985. As of August, over 73 million egg layers had been affected by HPAI, sending egg prices soaring to a record average of $4.82 per dozen in January 2023. In 2024, the January-September average retail price for eggs is $2.99 per dozen, up 7% from 2023. Since the first detection in March 2024, there have been 494 detections of HPAI in dairy herds in 16 states, according to the USDA.
- Hurricanes are taking a heavy toll on US agriculture, with preliminary estimates for the economic impact of Hurricane Helene to Georgia agriculture alone topping $6 billion, according to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. State officials said the heaviest storm-related losses were in timber, pecans, and horticulture. It's estimated that 420,000 pecan trees were lost to the storm. Cotton also took a hit with Helene destroying one-fifth of the state’s crop, according to the USDA’s monthly Crop Production report. The department estimated that growers would harvest 1.65 million bales of cotton, down by 400,000 bales from a pre-hurricane estimate. North Carolina’s cotton crop was estimated at 700,000 bales, down 7% due to the hurricane. “Georgia and North Carolina accounted for much of the reduction as high winds and heavy rain pummeled open bolls,” according to a USDA report.
- Along with falls, equipment-related injuries, and drownings, fatal overdoses have become an occupational hazard of commercial fishing, The New York Times reports. The grueling nature of work aboard commercial fishing vessels and the high incidence of stress and painful injuries make crew susceptible to opioid use and overdosing. In response, efforts are being made to train crewmembers to identify and treat an overdose and to equip commercial fishing boats with naloxone (aka Narcan), an opioid antagonist that can reverse overdoses and prevent death. The New Bedford, Massachusetts-based nonprofit Fishing Partnership Support Services provides free training on responding to an opioid emergency to fishing communities along the East Coast. A 2022 report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that employees in fishing, forestry, agriculture, and hunting had the highest fatality rates from opioid overdoses of all industries, closely followed by workers in construction trades.
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