Our Industry is Rising

Written by: Leah Wilkinson   |   June 28, 2023

Our role in ag

Some of the best advice I received as a young professional was to hone my skills to make the “elevator pitch” – you know, being able to introduce yourself and share a key point or two all in a short enough time that you could do so on a quick elevator ride with someone. That skill has helped me represent our members in the American Feed Industry Association’s public policy efforts and to convey to my friends and neighbors what I really do and who I represent for a living. Many of you, our members, also have standard elevator speeches and today, the AFIA released new data that you can use to update and refresh your pitches. So, let’s look at a few facts about the animal food industry that you can incorporate into your new routine.

FACT: Nearly 5,650 feed and pet food manufacturing facilities across the country support the nourishment of 278 million animals daily.

• There are 5,125 feed mills and 523 pet food manufacturing facilities in the United States.
• Every state has at least two feed mills except for Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

FACT: In 2023, the industry is expected to contribute a total (including indirect and induced effects) of $267.1 billion in sales.

• The states with the highest contributions in terms of output are California ($19.5 billion), Missouri ($18.6 billion), Texas ($17.1 billion), Iowa ($16.5 billion) and Kansas ($16.2 billion).

FACT: Our industry employs 80,000 direct employees.

• These workers are those within our manufacturing facilities, companies and within related companies that support our industry.
• These employees will receive $55 billion this year in salaries and benefits.
• Missouri employs the most animal food manufacturing employees with over 54,350 workers, followed by California, Texas, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

FACT: The industry supplies $98.4 billion in value added revenue across other businesses and pays $18.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes.

• In addition to purchasing needed inputs, the feed and pet food manufacturing industries also generate economic activity by utilizing related services and industries such as truck and rail transportation services, financial institutions, advertising and more.
• The tax contribution ensures the communities where facilities are located have access to the public services they need.

FACT: The United States uses 554.1 million tons of ingredients to make animal feed and pet foods.

• 547.7 million tons are used for animal production and 6.4 million tons of ingredients are used for pet food.
• Forages make up 284.81 million tons of the animal feed ingredients with the remaining 267.43 million tons of ingredients coming from corn, soybean meal, dried distillers grains, plant and animal proteins, fats and oils, amino acids and other ingredients.

I’m proud to work for this growing economic agricultural sector and hope that you will help us tell our story to your local, state and federal officials, and your friends and family too. Leave a comment below to share your best elevator pitch for our industry!