(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is known for its many thousands of acres of fertile farmland which help to feed perhaps millions of people around the world, and a new report details just how valuable the agriculture industry is to the state. Brent Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, says the report just confirms what we already know, that agriculture is vital to our state’s economy and identity.

The report says Iowa has 326-thousand jobs that are directly tied to agriculture with an economic impact of more than 96-billion dollars tied to those jobs. When that 96-billion figure is trickled down to Main Street and other industries, he says it quickly more than doubles to nearly 222-billion dollars. Even through the past few years with the pandemic, Johnson says agriculture saw steady gains, and farmers are growing significantly more food on less land.