(The Center Square) – Wisconsin has less farms and farm workers from 2017 to 2022 but the state has had an increase in on-farm gross domestic product, according to a new report.
The number of farms in the state dropped from 64,793 in 2017 to 58,521 in 2022 while the number of jobs went from 437,700 in 2017 to 353,900 in 2022 with overall labor income reducing by 5.5% as well, according to the report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
The report credited on-farm activity with leading to $30.5 billion in industrial revenue and the state’s combined on-farm and food processing sector as contributing $116.3 billion in annual industrial revenue.
That sector includes beverage manufacturers.
Economists say economic impact claims do not give an accurate portrayal because they do not take into account expenses and instead put only inflated positive numbers into models so that government entities can make claims about the positive benefit of government spending.
This report was shared by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, saying he has $100 million to support Wisconsin farmers in all 72 counties through the Wisconsin Farm Support Program.
The spending also included $1.6 million for grants for meat processing facilities, $1.5 million for the Tribal Food Security Program, $1 million annually for the Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports, and $100,000 annually to support farmer mental health.
“From launching our Wisconsin Farm Support Program in 2020 to working to increase our state’s agricultural exports to investing in safe, reliable roads to get from point A to point B, we’ve been hard at work to bolster this vital industry for the past five years, and we will continue our work to strengthen Wisconsin’s agriculture industry for years to come,” Evers said in a statement.
