A new report released by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln shows agriculture is critical to the state’s economy and its resilience. Nebraska Farm Bureau Senior Economist Jay Rempe says the report shows agriculture remains a critical component of Nebraska’ economy accounting for nearly 34 percent of business sales, and 22 percent of the gross state product as well as nearly a quarter of the state’s jobs.
He says the report was thorough in that it looked at several sectors of agriculture and not just the production end.
Rempe says the key driver to the state’s economy is production agriculture.
UNL researchers used data from 2017 because that was the year of the most recent Census of Agriculture. That census is done every five years by the USDA. It also happened to be the lowest income year for farmers and ranchers of the last ten years.
