Strategies to promote local and regional food systems benefit from a baseline understanding of existing agricultural activity and its role within the regional economy. To encourage growth or changes in regional food systems, it is important to understand what is being produced, where and how it is being sold, and the potential economic impacts of shifting production and marketing channels. This study provides an estimate of the economic contribution of on-farm agriculture to the Maricopa County economy, as well as an estimate of the regional economic contribution of agricultural activity taking place within the Gila River Indian Community. It includes an over- view of commodities produced, their direct sales effects, and an estimate of multiplier effects within the regional economy. Additionally, information on farm attributes, food versus non-food agricultural production, and existing data on local foods activity is provided within the larger context of agriculture as a whole in the region.
Findings
Economic contribution
- The total sales contribution of on-farm agricultural production to the Maricopa County economy was an estimated $1.95 billion in 2015, including direct, indirect, and induced multiplier effects.
- The total value-added contribution, also known as gross state product (GSP), was $831 million, including $586 million in labor income, $192 million in profits and other property type income, and $52 million in taxes on production and imports.
- Agricultural production within the Gila River Indian Community generated $38.4 million in cash receipts in 2012, part of which is located in Maricopa County.
Jobs contribution
- On-farm agricultural production directly and indirectly supported roughly 14,200 jobs in the Maricopa County economy, of which an estimated 9,190 were directly supported on farm. These estimates include full- and part-
time jobs as well as both hired labor and farm proprietors.
Major crops and livestock produced
- According to study estimates, in 2015 Maricopa County generated roughly $469 million in sales from crops and $584 million in sales from livestock, poultry, and their products. The commodity with highest sales was milk from cows with $418 million in sales.
- The top 5 crop and livestock industries in Maricopa County are milk and dairy; greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production; all other crop farming (includes hay and alfalfa); vegetable and melon farming; and cattle ranching and farming.
- Commonly produced crops within the Gila River Indian Community are forage for livestock, cotton, corn for silage or greenchop, and barley for grain.
Farm characteristics
- Family or individually owned farms are the most common type of legal organization of farms in Maricopa County, followed by partnerships and family-held corporations, as of 2012. Partnerships represents the greatest amount of farm acreage in the county, with 36% of total county farm acreage.
- Most farms in Maricopa County are small, both in terms of acreage and sales. Of 2,479 farms, 868 have less than $1,000 in annual sales and 1,495 are between 1 and 9 acres in size. Just 7.5% of farms had sales of more than $500,000 and 1.7% had acreage of 2,000 acres or more.
- 95% of total farm sales in Maricopa County come from just 7.5% of farms. Though by number most farms are small, a few large farms are responsible for most sales in the county
- In the Gila River Indian Community, 17 of 39 farms had over $100,000 in annual sales and the most common farm size was between 10 and 49 acres (12 of 39 farms).
Food production versus non-food production and local foods (Appendix A)
- In 2012, $129 million of fruit, vegetable, nut, and food grain crops were sold by Maricopa County farms. An additional $542 million in sales came from milk, meat, and eggs.
- While $318 million of Maricopa County’s agricultural production was for non-food crops, much of that was production of feed crops for livestock, of which the dairy industry is an important user. That said, production
of feed and alfalfa can be viewed as part of the dairy industry value chain. - Direct to consumer sales of agricultural products in Maricopa County totaled $2 million from 218 operations in 2012.
- Existing research indicates that most local food sales are not direct to consumer, but rather occur through intermediated marketing channels such as retail, restaurants, or food hubs.
- Rough estimates of local foods activity suggest that local foods sales/spending in Maricopa County could total in the tens of millions of dollars annually, based upon national averages.
Methods
This study relies on data from several sources. First and foremost, the study draws from the Census of Agriculture, the most comprehensive source of information on agricultural produc- tion at the county level. Released every 5 years, the most recent available agricultural census was the 2012 Census of Agriculture, released in 2014. Bureau of Economic Analysis data on farm income and expenses were used to estimate 2015 agricultural production, assuming relative production by industry as captured in the Census of Agriculture held constant from 2012. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and 2012 Census of Agriculture were used to update farm employment estimates. The IMPLAN 3.1 input output model and software for Maricopa County, AZ was used to estimate the total economic contribution of agriculture to the county economy, including multiplier effects. Unlike other recent studies of agribusiness’s economic contribution in Arizona (Kerna Bickel, et al, 2017; Kerna & Frisvold, 2014), this study looks only at on-farm activities, including crop production, livestock production, and agricultural support services.