When we talk of the economic engines that drive Wisconsin, two industries always get mentioned, tourism and agriculture. And although we’re down to less than 11,000 dairy farms in Wisconsin, dairy continues to be a strong economic driver for the state.
Back in the early 90’s the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and the Department of Agriculture commissioned a research project to see in dollars and cents what was the total impact of dairy and agriculture in the state. At that time it was deemed that the dairy industry provided over 18 billion dollars in economic impact. Following that initial report other studies werecommissioned every 5 years or so and the numbers kept rising. By 2000 the research showed the economic impact had reached 26.5 billion and that number was quoted by the industry as an example of why the state needed to provide an environment for Wisconsin agriculture and dairy in particular to grow. And grow it has due to some incentives and innovations made by producers and key ag related industries. The most recent numbers for 2014 showagriculture’svalue to the state at over 88 billion dollars and dairy alone valuedat 43.4 billion dollars. The industry also provides 413,500 jobs and is a strong economic tax base for many rural communities in the state.
The diversity of Wisconsin dairy industry is another strength with well over 90% of Wisconsin dairy farms being family run enterprises. And Wisconsin dairy is looking to increase it economic foot print by continuing to grow its production as the state has a goal to increase annual production to 30 billion gallons by 2020.
Reports show that Wisconsin agriculture, and again dairy in particular continue to increase its share of the international market. And Wisconsin cheese,especiallyin the artisan market, continues to dominate in both sales and reputation. And the innovativeentrepreneursin the industry and supporting businesses just enhances thestates position as America’ dairy leader. So if the political andregulatoryatmosphere continues to be supportive, Agriculture as an economicenginefor the state should pick upmoresteamas it continues to chug along.
Source: WTAQ
