Economic Contribution of Utah Agriculture
Contact : Dr. Paul Jakus, (435) 797-2309
Contact: Larry Lewis (801) 538-7104
Cell (801) 514-2152
February 8, 2013
Utah State University Study Says
Utah Agriculture Contributes More Than 14% to State Economy
Salt Lake City, -- Utah agriculture remains an important economic engine to the State of Utah, as a recent Utah State University study confirms. The agricultural processing and production sectors together account for $17.5 billion in total economic output in Utah after adjusting for multiplier effects. The two agriculture sectors also account for about 78,000 jobs and income of approximately $2.7 billion, and 14.1 percent of total state output, which represents a 1.4 percent growth rate since 2008.
The bulk of processing jobs are located in urbanized metropolitan statistical areas.
Food manufacturing accounts for about 15% of all manufacturing jobs in the state.
The average wage rate in processing agricultural products is over $18/hour.
Agricultural production and processing grew by 15.1 percent from 2008 to 2011. Agriculture cash receipts, statewide, were up to about $1.6 billion in 2011.
The report, authored by Dr. Ruby Ward, Dr. Paul Jakus and Lassina Coulibaly of USU’s Department of Applied Economics, acknowledges that production agriculture and the agricultural processing sectors are important elements of the economy in the state of Utah. These economic sectors contribute jobs, income, fiscal revenues, and quality of life to not only rural regions of the state, but also to its more urbanized regions.
See the complete report.
See the news conference video
Salt Lake Trib. Atricle
Deseret News Article
Standard-Examiner
H J News
Report comparisons:
......................................................2008 2011 growth
Production & Processing $15.2 B $17.5 B 15.1% ........(with multiplier)
Employment 66,500 78,200 17.6%
(with multiplier)
Total state output 13.9% 14.1% 1.4%
Posted February 16, 2011