Agriculture Regarded as Ohio’s Strongest Industry

Monday, December 17, 2012

Ohio Governor John Kasich labeled agriculture as “Ohio’s strongest industry” while he addressed the 2012 meeting of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation on Nov. 29, 2012. This is according to a PolitiFact Ohio article that cites Ohio Capital Blog coverage of the Farm Bureau meeting.

The article points to similar claims about the strong agriculture industry in Ohio from other notable sources. Senator Sherrod Brown called agriculture “the state’s number one industry,” the state Department of Agriculture says it’s “Ohio’s number one industry,” and the Farm Bureau calls it “Ohio’s top industry.”

The article cites information from The Ohio State University’s OHFOOD study, which is noted as the most comprehensive study available for Ohio agribusiness. The latest results show data from 2010, which shows the total food and agriculture cluster contributed 11.7 percent or $105 billion of Ohio’s total economic output of $898.7 billion. According to the article, “Ohio's gross state product improved by 1.3 percent from 2008 to 2010, the study said, while the portion attributed to the "agrifood" cluster increased about 30 percent.”

A statement by State Representative Dorothy Pelanda highlights the importance of agriculture in Ohio. She says, “Ohio farmers feed our nation as well as being the bulwark of our state’s economy.”

Ohio relies heavily on its booming agriculture industry, as noted in this article as well as Governor Kasich’s statement. The agriculture industry accounts for a significant portion of Ohio’s total economic output, and will likely continue to do so in the future.