Promar International, a farm, environment and agri-food consulting firm that specializes in research in the global agricultural and agri-food sectors, released its 2010 Economic Analysis of Animal Agriculture, reporting that in 2010 alone, U.S. animal agriculture contributed:

1.8 million jobs to the economy;

$289 billion to gross domestic product;

$51 billion to household incomes;

$13 billion income taxes paid; and

$6 billion in property taxes paid.

Further, the farmers and ranchers involved in animal agriculture contributed more than five percent of gross state product in 13 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Vermont.

The study—which provides a state-by-state breakdown of animal agriculture economics—identifies animal agriculture’s contributions to output, earnings, employment and taxes.

The study tracked the various shifts in animal production from 2000 to 2010, showing that the increased value of animal agriculture production in those 10 years resulted in a boost of more than $22 billion in total national economic output.

“This growth increased household incomes by almost $4 billion and created nearly 129,000 jobs, which is especially important when you consider that the national economy lost about 1,000,000 jobs over the same period,” said Philip Lobo, Director of Feed Utilization with the United Soybean Board.

Animal agriculture is the largest source of demand for soybean meal (domestic animals consumed 30 million tons in 2010), linking the success of the two industries to one another.

And considering this recent analysis of animal agriculture’s economic contribution, the success of those industries plays a major role in the nation’s overall well being—yet another example of how the health and vibrancy of U.S. agriculture is a driving force to recovery in an otherwise sputtering economy.

The study—which was funded by the United Soybean Board’s Domestic Marketing Committee—is available in its entirety here.