We all have different skills and interests, leading us to have various types of jobs. It takes a balance of all types of people to keep organizations running smoothly – some people are number crunchers while others are more artistic or hands-on. Decision Innovation Solutions specializes in economic research and data analysis, which is grounded by our production agriculture backgrounds. We are here to help bridge the gap for organizations who may not have the appropriate resources available on staff for research and data analysis projects.
One of our latest projects is the 2014 South Dakota Ag Economic Contribution Study. The goal of this study was to quantify the impact that agriculture has on the South Dakota economy. We found that the agriculture industry contributed more jobs than any other industry to South Dakota, and employs 20%, or 1 in 5 working South Dakotans. As shown in the chart, agriculture holds the largest percent of jobs at 20% with these other major industries following: government 17%, households 14%, services 13%, manufacturing 10%, and construction 8%.
While agriculture plays a significant role, all jobs and industries are a critical component to any economy. In this study, we also dug deeper into the agriculture industry and found that livestock farming is responsible for 30,303 jobs, and crop farming contributes over twice as many at 70,104 jobs. The Other Ag category, which includes veterinary services, fertilizer manufacturing, farm machinery manufacturing, and much more, adds another 15,244 jobs to South Dakota.
So where do you fit in your local economy and what unanswered questions does your occupation have?
To find out more about this study visit this page.