By
Jim Nicholson
The secret’s out. St. Louis is a major center of agribusiness.
Geographically blessed, St. Louis sits at the center of both
the national rail and highway systems, is situated at the confluence
of three major working rivers and is surrounded by prime farmland.
While the local media focus on issues relating to the region’s
emerging status as the center of the BioBelt, and area civic
leadership tends to speak in terms of traditional industry sectors
vis-á-vis local industry, the reality of the matter is that
agriculture contributes substantially to both.
This has been made evident in a study commissioned by The St.
Louis Agribusiness Club. The Club, itself, is an entity of 255
members (ranging from farmers, to business executives, to lawyers,
to educators, to scientists) and 144 types of companies. The
report (compiled by Chuck Zimmerman, the president of ZimmComm
New Media (www.zimmcomm.biz), and based on the 2002 U.S. Census
of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce’s Economic Census
and, among others, statistics provided by the Regional Chamber
and Growth Association and the University of Missouri Workforce
System) concludes that the economic impact of agriculture on
the greater St. Louis economy is a staggering $23 billion (or
12 percent of the total economic output for the region) and
that agribusiness provides the region 330,317 jobs, accounting
for 20 percent of the region’s workforce.
The report includes actual sales for agricultural products,
food manufacturing and figures from various agriculturally allied
companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto and Nestlé-Purina.
(Funding was not available for a fully-detailed report to include
all the segments of the agricultural industry.)
What does the study report? In essence, a surprising interconnection
between the region’s economy and agriculture. Zimmerman points
out that “today’s farmer feeds 144 other people.” The efficiency
of production can be related to improved farming techniques,
equipment, fertilizer and feed—many of which are directly attributable
to local industry. The food is transported from the farm to
processing by truck or by barge, both again related to local
industry. The food must be stored or warehoused. Again, another
farm-to-region interconnection.
In viewing the major segments of agribusiness, the intertwining
of agricultural products in the local economy becomes increasingly
obvious and the study singles out six
separate areas for special attention:
Beverage Manufacturing accounts for approximately $10
billion annually and is dominated, not surprisingly, by
Anheuser-Busch. The company processes significant amounts of
agricultural products in the brewing of its products and its
agricultural research and operations subsidiary, Busch Agricultural
Resources Inc. (BARI), develops new strains of barley and rice,
evaluates new strains of hop, owns and operates 12 malting barley
elevators and three malt barley processing plants. BARI also
operates two rice milling facilities and two Nutri-Turf locations.
Agricultural Inputs are products immediately connected
with the growing process, itself. Monsanto, one of the world’s
largest agribusiness corporations is a leading provider of agricultural
products and solutions and accounts for $4.3 billion in sales.
It has two leading seed brands, DeKalb and Asgrow, and provides
insect and weed control brands including Roundup, the world’s
best selling herbicide. Roundup and other herbicides can be
combined with seeds to provide growers integrated solutions
to their agricultural problems. Agricultural inputs need not
be nearly so high tech, Dean Dittmar, the outgoing president
of the Agribusiness Club reports, citing Lowe’s, Home Depot
and Wal-Mart as prime examples of companies contributing to
the Agricultural Input business.
Pet Food Manufacturing is the third largest segment of
the agribusiness industry in the St. Louis region. The Nestlé-Purina
PetCare Company is one of the world’s largest pet care manufacturers
and also operates Purina Farms, an animal education facility
where visitors can learn first-hand about pets and pet nutrition.
It is an agribusiness leader both in terms of its utilization
of farm commodities and in the production of animal feed for
both household pets and specialty livestock.
Food Manufacturing is also a significant contributor
to the St. Louis area economy as 210 different manufacturing
companies account for nearly $2.6 billion in sales and shipments.
Locally, over 80 companies produce varying breads, bakery products,
tortillas and pasta, 35 companies are in the meat processing
business and 16 manufacture fluid milk and dairy products. The
component numbers creating those products can be impressive.
Pevely Dairy/Prairie Farms, for instance, in their local (St.
Louis and Carlinville) plants process approximately 52 gallons
of milk a year. Another 20 businesses are involved in the production
of sugar and confectionary products.
Agricultural Production: There were $542.2 million
worth of agricultural products sold in the St. Louis metropolitan
area with the two top commodities being corn and soybeans. Hogs,
cattle, the dairy industry and the nursery and greenhouse industry
also accounted for major sales figures. Poultry, fruit and vegetables
and specialty crops and livestock ranging from Christmas trees
to exotic animals also contributed to the sales total.
Agricultural Biotechnology is considered to be part of what
is called the life and plant sciences ‘cluster’, which includes
drugs, industrial chemicals, research, development, education
and testing and is one of the five fastest growing segments
of the local economy, leading to St. Louis being called the
“heart of the BioBelt.” Monsanto, a renowned leader in biotechnological
and genomic research, is easily cited as a major player in the
field.
Beyond the big six, there are, obviously, other categories contributing
to the composition of the local Agribusiness community. Sixty-eight
million dollars in revenue is produced by 17 textile mills.
$175 and a half million is generated by sellers of farm machinery
and equipment, while close to $45 million comes from sales of
food processing machinery.
Agricultural transportation and warehousing is also a major
local economic factor, with truck transportation bringing in
$28 million dollars in revenue and water transportation (barge
traffic) accounted for a further $79 million from the total
of 9,080,000 short tons of food and farm products shipped through
the Port of St. Louis.
St. Louis can also lay claim to being the home of a number of
large national agricultural organizations such as the United
Soybean Board, the American Soybean Association and the National
Corn Growers Association. A number of agriculture service business
such as those specializing in advertising, communications, law,
accounting, finances and real estate also augment the local
economy. Osborn & Barr Communications, for instance, brings
in well over $12 million from agribusiness accounts and is ranked
as the second largest agribusiness agency in North America by
AgriMarketing magazine.
The extent of actual farming in the metro-region may come as
a shock for those who live exclusively urban-bound. In St. Louis
County, the State’s most populous, there are, for instance,
328 working farms encompassing 39,395 acres with a market value
of $166,115,000 producing crops and products with a market value
of $21,266,000. While it is apparent that, both nationally and
locally, the number of farmers and farm worker employment is
in actual and significant decline, the number of agriculture-related
jobs is in the ascension. In the metropolitan area, 419,000
new jobs are expected to be created through the year 2025 in
such areas as processing, transportation and farm inputs.
Expanding the statistics to the outlying counties greatly increases
the economic impact. Rapidly urbanizing St. Charles County still
hosts 739 farms producing products with a market value of $33,638,000.
On the East Side, equally rapidly urbanizing St. Clair County
hosts 811 farms producing products with a market value of $70,373,000.
From a high of 1,833 farms in Franklin County on the West Side
of the Mississippi and 1,152 in Madison County on the East Side
of the Mississippi to a low of 328 in St. Louis County on the
West Side and 520 in Jersey County on the East Side, there are
a total of 9,365 working farms in the St. Louis metropolitan
area. These farms cover 2,213,337 acres of land, employ 6,734
workers, produce $542,189,000 in market value of products sold
and have a combined property market value of $5,991,785,000.
Zimmerman refers to the report as “just a snapshot” and mentions
that a “significant amount of activity could not be quantified”
for the current study. For instance, Drake and Company, located
in Chesterfield, is the manager of three separate groups relating
to agribusiness—The National Christmas Tree Growers Association;
Alpha Zeta, a National Agricultural Honorary and The Professional
Dairy Heifer Association, a local company managing three National
organizations, but with statistics inapplicable to the current
study.
Zimmerman refers to the report as “a template for other organizations
in other cities” and cites the Kansas City version of the Agribusiness
Club as having recently commissioned its own study. He also
stresses that the current report does not include a study of
the biofuel industry as “the push had not started” during the
period covered by the study. Obviously, its numbers would now
significantly impact the report’s results. “Unless they happen
to be a member of the organization, not a lot of people know
about the size of local agribiz,” Zimmerman shrugs. “We want
the study to change that. It’s free and downloadable simply
by going to www.stlouisagclub.org.”
Meanwhile, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the College
of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources is making certain
Missouri’s students are kept abreast of cutting-edge agricultural
training techniques. According to Associate Dean, Dr. Paul Vaughn,
a high percentage of the College’s students are from the St.
Louis Metropolitan Area where they study “the sciences of life”—animal,
plant, biochemical and social sciences and natural resources.
“A large number: of the College’s students are interested in
animal sciences, first with an eye towards careers as veterinarians,
but later with a side-step towards the study of “captive animals
and/or captive animal management." This covers a broad range
of territory ranging from fisheries and wildlife to, ultimately,
high profile concerns such as the Saint Louis Zoo.
Dean Vaughn stresses that, in the biochemical sciences, there
is great interest in animal and plant genomics which,” through
research, will impact the life of people both in the United
States and the world-at-large.”
Another major player on the Columbia campus is the Food and
Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). Established
in 1984, it focuses on farm and agricultural policy analysis,
transportation research (including Missouri and Mississippi
river flow) and environmental analysis. FAPRI’s Lori Wilcox
explains the Institute is currently completing the final stages
of a baseline process, which will go before Congress with a
10-year outlook vis-à-vis United States and World Agriculture.
Once the baseline is completed and presented, the Institute
“is open to requests (from Congress) to analyze the impact of
current and proposed agricultural policies”.
While the news may come as a total surprise to the St. Louis
listening audience, the metropolitan area is also a national
center of agricultural broadcasting. Mike Adams’ nationally-syndicated
talk show, Agritalk, is heard on 69 stations in 20 States, ranging
from New York to western Colorado and, going North to South,
from North Dakota to Georgia. “At any given moment, well over
100,000 people are tuned in,” Adams reports. He also reports,
“No station in St. Louis carries our program. It’s frustrating
for an agribusiness hub, surrounded by agriculture that local
radio so completely ignores agriculture. The Post occasionally
prints an article, but there’s not a lot of agricultural coverage
here and agriculture is one of the major drivers of the local
economy.”
His frustration is understandable when one realizes that a fair
number of those 100,000 listeners reside within a day’s drive
of the City, do business in the City and view the City as an
urban entertainment destination. While the purpose of Adams’
show is to “provide a forum for the discussion of issues relating
to rural America and to promote rural America and agriculture,”
the reality is eclectic.
“We may be talking about the farm bill one day and deer on the
highway (both topics of varying concern locally) the next. I
make my views known on the topics we cover, but we always try
to cover all sides of an issue and welcome an open discussion
that includes opposing views.”
Another of his show’s focuses is to showcase rural America and
to celebrate small town life, and he is often on the road broadcasting
from varying small towns “which have a good story to tell.”
“I think small towns have a great opportunity for the future,”
Adams says and cites towns whose visionary view of economic
development has assured their future, the fact that business
finds small towns both inexpensive and viable as hubs and that
contemporary technology includes, rather than isolates, rural
America.
Having grown up in central Illinois, he also knows why St. Louis
is a popular destination for his listeners. “It’s a big enough
city, but not overwhelming like Chicago. It’s central, it’s
diverse and the local agricultural influences are major.”
Local agribusiness is burgeoning and that business inevitably
will be a part of a live discussion on national radio. What
is the next major development? Dittmar envisions the report
impacting the metropolitan area in a number of further ways
including educationally, “We have a need for schools and guidance
counselors to see the connection between agricultural education
and greater agribusiness career opportunities.” Perhaps, the
push is already underway with programs in place at schools as
diverse as Edwardsville, Collinsville and Gateway Institute
of Technology and South Technical School—Sunset Hills.
If so, the jobs will be there for the taking. The St. Louis
Regional Chamber and Growth Association foresees a bright future
for local agribusiness ranking agricultural services 12th in
the top 20 fastest growing industries in the area and projecting
a 35 percent increase in estimated employment for the agriculture
services sector by 2008.
For more information on the St. Louis BioBelt, please visit
the St. Louis RCGA website at www.stlouisbiobelt.org
