Agriculture and Agriculture‐Related Manufacturing Economic Impacts in Iowa

Swenson, David A.

March 2013

Agriculture is an important component of the Iowa economy.  When considered in combination with Iowa's food manufacturing and Iowa's industries that specifically produce agricultural inputs, the broader agriculture and agriculture-related manufacturing sectors explain a substantial fraction of the state's jobs and labor incomes.  If those industries are analyzed in terms of their contributions towards final demand sales (the preponderance of which are exports from Iowa), all of the jobs linked to those final demand sales can be quantified.  By doing so, it is possible to estimate the total number of jobs in Iowa that are directly or indirectly linked to agriculture and agriculture related manufacturing. 

Keywords: agriculture, agriculture-related manufacturing, final demand