It’s the start of National Agriculture Week, celebrating the impact of the industry across the U.S.
Here in South Dakota, it’s the state’s number one industry and in tonight’s Your Money Matters, area producers share the financial impact ag has across the state.
“It contributes over $640 million a year in terms of tax revenue to the state, 130,000 jobs in South Dakota are attributed directly to agriculture,” Mark Salvador with South Dakota Farm Bureau said.
…the state’s number one industry is a big deal for every aspect of the economy in South Dakota.
“The local economy is impacted every single day by agriculture. We have a strong agriculture economy, that means that area main streets are going to be strong as well,” Pierpont, SD Farmer Kelly Brandlee said.
“As agriculture sits today, there’s a lot of demand for corn, soybeans and all of the meat products grown here in South Dakota, that’s a function of a strong global demand. Corn prices are relatively high, soybean prices are relatively high, beef prices are in a good spot here today, there’s a lot of opportunity in agriculture right now,” Salvador said.
But as the profitability potential rises, so does the cost of doing business.
“Fertilizer price has almost doubled, the price of iron, those tractors and combines we see out there, they’ve gone up considerable amounts too, even the seed prices, everything goes up with the price of commodities,” Salvador said.
Source: keloland.com
Categories: South Dakota, Business, Crops, Corn, Soybeans