The Latest Data From Minnesota Farm Country

An agricultural impact study will be released later this month, but AgriGrowth members got a preview during the Ag and Food Summit. Land O’Lakes Vice President of Government and Industry Relations Matt Wohlman said agriculture accounts for 8.5 percent of Minnesota’s economy and is responsible for 330,000 jobs. “Another key finding from the report is the economic contribution of crop production has overtaken livestock production in Minnesota and while both crop and livestock production are up, crop production is growing at nearly twice the rate over the last five years,” said Wohlman. “When it comes to job creation, more than 18,000 jobs were created by crop production in the last five years, that’s a 21 percent increase. For livestock, we’ve seen a loss of jobs. About 6,700 jobs, a decrease of about five percent.” The research found the average Minnesota farm has 390 acres. That’s only slightly larger than the 350-acre average 25 years ago.  During that same time, the average market value of that farm has increased nearly 500 percent.