Summary

Collectively, the agriculture, natural resources, and food industries are significant contributors to the economy of the state of Florida. The economic contributions of these industries were evaluated for calendar year 2016 to update previous reports from the Economic Impact Analysis Program and to provide current information for the purpose of informed public policy.

Licensed  IMPLAN© regional economic modeling software (Version 3) and associated Florida state and county databases (IMPLAN Group LLC) for 2016 were used to estimate the total economic contributions of selected industry sectors associated with agriculture, natural resources, and food.  Analyses of this type capture not only the direct economic activity within these industries, but the indirect activity supported throughout the regional economy via supply chain relationships and induced activity supported by the re-spending of household income. This analysis includes 121 industry sectors that represent the broad array of activities encompassed by commodity production, manufacturing, distribution, and supporting services associated with agriculture and food as well as natural-resources management. Economic contributions are measured in terms of employment, industry output, value added, exports, labor income, other property income, and business taxes. A glossary of economic terms is provided in this document for reference. 

The overall economic contributions of Florida agriculture, natural resources, and food industries in 2016 can be summarized as:

• Direct employment of 1.683 million full-time and part-time jobs, and total employment contributions (including multiplier effects in other sectors) of 2.294 million jobs, representing 19.9 percent of the state workforce.
• Direct industry output or sales revenues of $165.51 billion, and total output contributions of $263.20 billion.
• Foreign and domestic exports of $47.70 billion that bring new money into the Florida economy.
• Total value added contributions of $137.23 billion, representing 14.7 percent of Gross State Product (equivalent to Gross Domestic Product).
• Total labor income contributions of $80.82 billion, which includes employee wages, fringe benefits, and proprietor income.
• Total other property income contributions of $43.62 billion representing rents, dividends, interest, royalties, etc.
• Total local, state and federal government tax contributions on production and imports of $12.79 billion.

Across the various industry groups, total employment and value added contributions were largest for Food and kindred products distribution (1.62 million jobs; $92.96 billion), which includes food service establishments and retail food stores, followed by Agricultural inputs and services (250,632 jobs; $13.52 billion), Crop, livestock, forestry, and fisheries production (176,569 jobs; $8.77 billion), Food and kindred product manufacturing (124,766 jobs; $12.96 billion), Forest product manufacturing (45,570 jobs; $4.62 billion), Mining (36,911 jobs; $2.43 billion), and Nature-based recreation – golf courses (36,979 jobs; $1.97 billion). Excluding the Food and kindred products distribution industry group, the total value added contribution was $44.27 billion (4.7% of Gross State Product), and the employment contribution was 671,428 jobs (5.8% of state workforce).

See Also: Executive Summary