Animal Agriculture

 

For soybean farmers, odds are if you are not a livestock or poultry producer yourself, a few of your neighbors are.  And that means some of your biggest customers are right in your own backyard.

In fact, 98 percent of U.S. soybean meal is consumed by livestock. In Ohio alone, livestock and poultry use 525,000 tons of soybean meal annually.

Partnerships

The Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) supports the animal agriculture initiative through a variety of projects, including support to the following state and national organizations:

Economic Impact of Animal Agriculture in Ohio

 

Agricultural livestock, generating business volume, jobs, family income and taxes in every county, is a key component of the vertically integrated agricultural value chain in Ohio.

It adds value to feed crops produced on Ohio farms; providing high-value meat, egg and dairy products for indirect sale; and providing inputs for the significant value-added food processing industry in the state.

In 2007, the Ohio Soybean Council and soybean checkoff funded an animal agriculture economic impact study with Battelle Memorial Institute.  Below are highlights of the results of this study.

On an annual basis, the agricultural livestock sector's direct and indirect expenditures generate the following:

  • $3.6 billion in total Ohio economic input (production)
  • 45,692 jobs in Ohio
  • $396 million annually in personal income for Ohioans
  • $258.5 million in annual tax revenues

Ohio's agricultural livestock sector generates a total of
$3.6 billion in economic output annually.

View Complete Report Here.

U.S. Statistics

  • Americans consume 254 eggs per year per person.
  • Consumers in the U.S. eat more than 60 pounds of pork each year.
  • Beef products consumed annually in the U.S. reached nearly 25 billion pounds in 2006.
  • There are roughly 60,500 pork operations in the U.S.  These operations raise more than 52 million hogs.
  • Ninety-five percent of all layers are grown by 260 companies that house more than 75,000 hens each.  The average number of egg-laying hens in the U.S. is 240 million.

 

Soybean Meal Consumption By Species