Agriculture and Food Sector: Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources

Sector Overview

The Agriculture and Food Sector has the capacity to feed and clothe people well beyond the boundaries of the nation. The sector is almost entirely under private ownership and is composed of an estimated 2.1 million farms, approximately 880,587 firms and 1,086,793 facilities. This sector accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation's economic activity and is overseen at the federal level by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Agriculture and Food Sector has critical dependencies with:

• the Water Sector, for clean irrigation and processed water;
• the Transportation Systems Sector, for movement of products;
• the Energy Sector, to power the equipment needed for agriculture production and food processing; and
• the Banking and Finance, Chemical, Dams, and other sectors as well.