News: Media Kits: Georgia Agricultural Resources
Economic Impacts
The following table has economic impact multipliers for the agricultural sectors in Georgia. A multiplier is a number economists use to estimate the total economic impact.
For example, suppose that the value of tobacco production is expected to decline $10 million next year. Using the output multiplier of 1.616 yields a total economic impact of a loss of $16.16 million on the state's economy.
Or suppose that a major new horticulture producer adds 100 new jobs in the state.
The employment multiplier of 1.589 implies total job growth of 159 jobs statewide.
Economic Impact Multipliers for Output and Employment,
Georgia State Economy, 1999
Output |
Employment |
|
| Agricultural, Forestry, Fishery Services | 1.775 | 1.208 |
| Commercial Fishing | 1.572 | 1.422 |
| Cotton | 1.622 | 2.675 |
| Dairy Farm Products | 1.739 | 2.876 |
| Feed Grains | 1.526 | 1.572 |
| Food Grains | 1.532 | 1.407 |
| Forest Products | 1.417 | 1.491 |
| Fruits | 1.742 | 1.719 |
| Grass Seeds | 1.536 | 1.068 |
| Greenhouse and Nursery Products | 1.519 | 1.589 |
| Hay and Pasture | 1.536 | 1.170 |
| Hogs, Pigs and Swine | 1.870 | 1.886 |
| Landscape and Horticultural Services | 1.684 | 1.215 |
| Miscellaneous Crops | 1.573 | 1.261 |
| Miscellaneous Livestock | 1.679 | 1.266 |
| Oil Bearing Crops | 1.563 | 1.545 |
| Other Meat Animal Products | 1.760 | 2.053 |
| Poultry and Eggs | 1.571 | 2.095 |
| Range Fed Cattle | 1.666 | 1.489 |
| Sheep, Lambs and Goats | 1.646 | 1.123 |
| Tobacco | 1.616 | 1.388 |
| Tree Nuts | 1.672 | 2.104 |
Vegetables |
1.644 | 2.177 |
Cautions in using multipliers:
- Multipliers quantify the ripple effects for a particular sector and its supplying sectors, but they do not quantify the ripple effects of a marketing chain in processing, wholesale or retail sectors.
- The size of a multiplier is no indication that an industry is relatively more or less important than any other.
- The multipliers are specific to a region and cannot be applied to other economies.
- The ripple effects from a change to Georgia's economy take time to develop. Research indicates that 50 percent of the ripple effects will be felt in the first year, and this declines to zero percent by the sixth year.