North Carolina Agriculture 2021
In partnership with North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
From the majestic mountains to the coastal plains, North Carolina agriculture can be described in one word: diverse. The state’s 46,000 farms produce top commodities and crops for North Carolina and beyond, with the typical farm averaging about 182 acres in size. Farmland makes up 8.4 million acres of the state’s land.
Agriculture and agribusiness provide 772,000 jobs, or 17.5 percent of total jobs, for N.C. residents and have an overall economic impact of $92.7 billion.
An agricultural leader in the U.S., North Carolina ranks in the top five for several commodities, including: No. 1 in sweet potatoes; No. 2 in turkeys; No. 3 in hogs and pigs; No. 4 in cucumbers and broilers; and No. 5 in peanuts, upland cotton, bell peppers and burley tobacco. But more than crops and commodities, North Carolina agriculture encompasses everything from agricultural education to agribusiness and value-added foods, agritourism, aquaculture, innovation, research, food safety and sustainability.