Agriculture tops Tennessee industries at $103.8 billion
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Farming is taking off in different directions in the state of Tennessee. Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Andy Holt told area farmers and business leaders attending the Farm City Breakfast last week, what his department is doing to support and promote agriculture at home and abroad.
Tennessee with its farmlands and natural beauty draws many to the state, he said, from those visiting to those looking to settle here.
“I tell my wife all the time, for whatever reason we get run out of Weakly County, we’re moving to Bledsoe County. This is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth…I hope you all do not undervalue the beauty that surrounds you each and every day,” said Commissioner Holt.
Tennessee produces a lot of agricultural diversity from poultry genetics to cattle to forest products to manufacture foods to grow crops, said the Commissioner.
“We do a lot of different types of production and for all those different types of production we have different markets for them,” he said.
Commissioner Holt believes added value should be given to all the different commodities or the state needs to find different markets for those products whether it is in the United States or international markets – selling to the highest bidder for all those products.
He challenged the Chamber of Commerce to recognize the backbone of the economy is not manufacturing nor healthcare, its agriculture and forestry. Agriculture is the top industry in the state of Tennessee bringing in $103.8 billion dollars annually, said Commissioner Holt. The state’s second top industry is tourism, he said bringing in $32 billion a year.
“So agriculture is more than three times larger than the next largest industry,” said Holt.
He said Tennessee doesn’t have recruit Google or Amazon to come here because it already has farms and forests all over this area, something Bledsoe County is rich in those assets.
“In my opinion that the closest to home business. I think we should be rewarding local businesses more than we should be rewarding other businesses coming in. It’s an opportunity for everybody to benefit,”noted the commissioner.
To the farmer, he challenged them to educate the public about agriculture.
“Agriculture is possibly the best career anybody can find,” he said.
He said 1.3 percent of the American population has ties back to agriculture which is something that needs to be preserved by telling the story of agriculture and the important role it plays in all lives.
“It’s up to us to talk about the greatest industry and the largest industry in our state,” challenged Commissioner Holt.
Serve, support, and promote Tennessee agriculture and forestry – that is the mission statement for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, said Commissioner Holt, and that is something he does on a daily basis, here and internationally.
He encouraged farmers and business leaders to communicate with him on what they see is needed and experienced in Bledsoe County to further the largest industry in the state.
Commissioner Holt stressed the mission of Tennessee’s founding fathers, who in 1796, had the vision to include agriculture and commerce on the state seal. He talked about the ability for the industries to transport goods to 75-percent of the United State population within 24 hours through its transportation systems from rivers to rails to roads.
“That puts us in a great place for transportation and logistics. Agriculture is the movement of big, bulky, heavy stuff – wood, fiber, food, animals all that – so the economics associated with transportation and logistics is one of the key elements in whether we can be profitable or whether we can access the markets.”
Commissioner Holt reports there are 69-70,000 farms in the state of Tennessee. The number farms in the state is rising, but the number of acres for those farms has decreased. These farms may look different from what they have in the past, he said.
About 52-percent of the state’s landmass is forested material and the balance is cropland, pastureland, and cities, he said. Tennessee is in the top three producers of hardwood into the world, providing the most volume and value, added Commissioner Holt.
He said about 66-percent of revenues is from crops and trees and about 34-percent is from livestock production.
Commissioner Holt stressed the need for everyone to look for Pick Tennessee Products, it’s a brand being taken around the world. He suggested everyone visit picktnproducts.org.
When he travels internationally, he said he tells them “I’m from the land of Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, and Jack Daniels and the immediately know who I am talking about and where I am talking about. We have so much opportunity as a state to market ourselves internationally already.”
Tennessee Department of Agriculture is part of the United States Livestock Genetics Export Council and the state sales a lot of genetics around the world – cattle, swine, poultry genetics. He noted Aviagen is the most preeminent poultry genetics producer in the world and its epicenter is in this area of state.
Tennessee is the 22nd most exported state in the nation, said Commissioner Holt.
“My goal is for us to get in the top 10 in the next five years,” said the commissioner.
He said food and nutrition is changing, with high fat, whole milk, more protein, being reintroduced as healthy foods in a diet. This is providing some new opportunities for those in agriculture and marketing/promotional business.
Commissioner Holt talked about the numerous centennial and bicentennial farms in the state, some in Bledsoe County.
“We have a changing state, right now. You probably have some neighbors around here, you think ‘where’d they come from’ and we are seeing it all across the state,” said Commissioner Holt. “That has created some pressure on our land use. People are willing to pay more for land than they have ever been willing to pay before, and we’ve had folks that want to locate this and change the use of land, so one of the things we really want to reward and emphasize and laud those who are keeping their farms as farms. One way we can do that is through the Century Farm program. If you have a farm that has been in a family for 100 consecutive years and has been in agriculture production for 100 years, we would really encourage you all to reach out and get your Century Farm designation.”
“We only have to ways to save farms in the state of Tennessee. Two best ways are to make them profitable so they an survive on their own as a farm or sentimental. So profitability and sentimental value are going to be the ways we are going to preserve more land in the state of Tennessee. I don’t want the government to force into doing anything with our private property. But I do want us to incentive folks to keep their farms as farms, and the main objective is make sure we are accessing all these markets so agriculture and forestry remain profitable.”
He mentioned the Agricultural Crime Unit that has been established and encouraged farmers to relate any criminal act against their farm or forest products to that special unit.
