The Economic Power of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Northwest

by

 

Spokane, Wash. (June 15, 2016) More than 12 cents of every $1 generated and 1 job in 10 are attributed to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries in the five-state region of the Northwest – Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

This comes from a study recently commissioned by Northwest Farm Credit Services and conducted by Oregon State University Extension Service Rural Studies Program and the University of Idaho Extension Service.

“Farm Credit has been supporting Northwest agriculture and forestry producers for a century, and fisheries since the ’70s,” said Phil DiPofi, Northwest FCS President and CEO. “We knew intuitively how vital these industries are to the Northwest, and wanted to quantify their contributions to the regional economy. This study affirms the significant impact producers have on the financial strength of our region.”

The study concludes that the total economic impact of the ag, forestry and fisheries segments comprise more than 885,900 jobs and nearly $176.1 billion in sales. Of this impact, 68.2 percent comes from agriculture, representing 7.5 percent of all jobs in the region and 8.3 percent of total sales. Forestry follows at 23.8 percent of the impact, with 2.3 percent of all jobs and 2.9 percent of total sales in the region; and fisheries at 7.9 percent of the impact represents 0.9 percent of sales and 1 percent of jobs in the region.

Northwest agriculture, forestry and fisheries economic contributions (2015 dollars)

Direct, Indirect and Induced Effects[i]

Full & Part-time Jobs

Sales ($000)

Alaska

64,034

$ 8,914,830

Idaho

143,611

31,790,880

Montana

85,037

11,075,130

Oregon

256,423

48,500,446

Washington

303,321

58,815,236

Northwest ag, forestry and fisheries[ii]

885,951

$176,050,189

Source: Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fishing in the NW US: An Economic Overview. February 2016.

 

Exports (either to other countries or other states outside the region) from these segments are worth $67.4 billion.

 

 

Source:  Northwest FCS is a $10.3 billion financial cooperative providing financing and related services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, commercial fishermen, timber producers, rural homeowners and crop insurance customers in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Northwest FCS is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System that supports agriculture and rural communities with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. For more information, go to northwestfcs.com.

 

 

[1] Total economic impact includes sales and jobs directly generated by the ag, forestry and fisheries industries (direct effect) plus sales made and jobs created that support the industries’ activity (indirect effect related to transactions between businesses) and sales made and jobs created as a result of the segments’ employees’ purchases (induced effect related to household expenditures).

 

[1] Northwest natural resources numbers are larger than the sum of the states because they include economic linkages among states.


Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS


Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x