The Missouri Department of Agriculture is celebrating the state’s position nationally in agriculture production during National Agriculture Week, March 21-27, 2023.

Missouri is home to 95,000 farms, employs 460,000 people in agriculture, forestry and related industries and has an estimated economic impact of $93.7 billion. Agriculture remains the state’s number one economic driver, supporting both rural and urban communities from farm to fork.

St. Louis is home to the world’s largest concentration of plant scientists and the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor represents more than half of total worldwide animal health, diagnostics and pet food sales. Missouri also houses two of the largest rivers systems in the United States, which allow commodities to be distributed domestically and internationally.

Missouri ranks in the top ten nationally in the following categories:

-Number of farms-second
-Hay production-second
-Beef cow numbers-third
-Rice production-fourth
-Goat inventory-fifth
-Turkey inventory-sixth
-Soybean production-sixth
-Hog inventory-sixth
-Cotton production-sixth
-Broiler chicken inventory-ninth
-Corn production-ninth
-Horse and pony inventory-ninth

Missouri rankings nationwide and economic impact can be found on the Missouri Department of Agriculture website located at a link in this story on our local news page at KMMO.com and on our Facebook page.