U.S. Agriculture Saw Double-Digit Growth in 2013

“Agriculture is a small part of the United States economy, but last year it was the best part,” wrote Floyd Norris in a June 20 New York Times article.

The agriculture sector’s output grew 16.4% after inflation last year, the fastest rise for the sector since at least 1998 and far faster than any other part of the economy. The nation’s gross domestic product grew just 1.8%, while the second-fastest growing sector, the information industry, rose 3.2%.

Earlier this month, the government released its estimates of state economic growth in 2013. North Dakota led the pack with a growth rate of 9.7%, benefiting from rising shale oil production but also helped by the fact that its agriculture sector amounts to 12.9% of the state’s economy, more than that of any other state except South Dakota.

By contrast, agriculture accounted for just 1.6% of the country’s overall output in 2013, but that was the largest share in recent years. The agriculture sector includes forestry, fishing and hunting as well as farming, but farming is much larger than the other categories.

Mitch Morehart, an economist with the Agriculture Department, said the strong growth in agriculture reflected a recovery in production for some crops after a 2012 drought, as well as strong production and rising prices for livestock. This year, he said, it appears that agriculture is not doing nearly as well.

Over all, the economies of the 10 states most dependent on agriculture grew at an average annual rate of 3.4% in 2013, while the 10 states least dependent on the farm economy grew at an average rate of 1.3%.

The 2013 surge in agriculture ended a string of three years in which that sector did not do as well as the overall United States economy. But since 1998, agriculture outperformed the rest of the economy in nine of the 15 years. During that stretch, agriculture grew at an annual rate of 4%, double the 2% average for the national economy.