A new study says agriculture is a solid No. 1 in Nebraska’s economy. Nothing else is even approximately close. “Agriculture is the dominant primary source for economic livelihood in Nebraska,” according to the report from the Nebraska Policy Institute. “In 2002, agribusiness directly and indirectly contributed 37 percent to the state’s total gross output, 28 percent to value added, 31 percent to total employment, and 33 percent to earned income,” the NPI said. “That level of economic contribution to the state’s overall economy far exceeded that of any other industry complex doing business in Nebraska in 2002.” “Given the dynamic nature of Nebraska’s economy and the changes and diversification which have occurred since 1990, one might expect the overall contribution of agribusiness to the state’s economy to have declined,” a summary of the report said. “This study finds the opposite has occurred. In 1990, 25 percent of the state’s total employment was directly or indirectly the result of agribusiness activity. In 2002, agribusiness supported nearly 366,000 full and part-time jobs, representing 31 percent of the state’s total employment.”

Agribusiness is considered an industrial complex, made up of a group of industries engaged in product-related production, exchange and marketing, the NPI research noted. “The farm industry is the foundation of the agribusiness industrial complex, with backward linkages to farm suppliers and forward linkages to agricultural processors,” the report said.

It added:

“In 2002, agribusiness in Nebraska produced nearly $25.3 billion in goods and services, employed 120,000 workers, earned $3 billion in wages and salaries and proprietor’s income, and contributed $5.6 billion to the state’s value added of $63.6 billion, for an 8.8 percent share.

“The 120,000 jobs represented slightly over 10 percent of the state’s total employment for 2002.” The study’s percentages on the relative importance of agribusiness to the state’s economy summarize an analysis of the agribusiness complex on the state’s economy for 2002 The year 2002 was chosen, because it reflects the latest year for which complete data were availableto conduct an economic impact analysis, the NPI said. For 2002, the agribusiness complex’s total economic impact on Nebraska was estimated at $45.9 billion in gross output, which represented about 37 percent of the state’s total gross output for that year. The report said the two largest contributors to the state’s total gross output were Production Agriculture and Agriculture Processing. Agribusiness directly and indirectly contributed $17.8 billion to the state’s total value added, or 28 percent.

By sector, the two largest contributors (or, beneficiaries) were Services and Education and Wholesale and Retail Trade. (Services include personal and business services, and Education includes both public and private education.)

Directly and indirectly, agribusiness supported nearly 366,000 full and part-time jobs, representing 31 percent of the state’s total employment for 2002. A 1990 study showed 25 percent of Nebraska’s total employment was directly and indirectly a result of agribusiness.

For the 2002 study, the largest contributor to employment was the Services and Education sector. Total earned income associated with the direct and indirect impact of the agribusiness complex on the state’s economy totaled $14 billion, which was 33 percent of Nebraska’s total earned income for 2002. (Earned income is wages and salaries plus proprietor’s income.)