Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland but there is more produced and processed in our state than just milk and cheese. Wisconsin ranks first in the nation for: snap beans for processing, cheese, cranberries, ginseng, mink pelts, dry whey for humans, milk goats and corn for silage.
Wisconsin agriculture is a big economic driver contributing $104.8 billion annually to our state’s economy.
- Food processing activity contributes $82.7 billion to industrial sales.
- The state is home to 58,521 farms on 13.8 million acres. The average farm size in Wisconsin is 236 acres.
Wisconsin agriculture provides jobs.
- Annually, 435,700 jobs or 11.8% of the state’s employment.
- On-farm production contributes 154,000 jobs.
- Processing contributes 282,000 jobs.
Wisconsin is one of the top states in the production of the major processing vegetables.
- In 2023, Wisconsin grew 6.75 million cwt of snap beans and 1.39 million cwt of green peas.
- The state ranks third in the nation in potato production, harvesting potatoes on 67,500 acres in 2023.
The state is known for its fruit production, including its state fruit – the cranberry.
- Wisconsin cranberry production for 2022 totaled 4.84 million barrels. Growers harvested 20,300 acres. Wisconsin produces 60 percent of the nation's crop making us the top cranberry producing state in the country.
- The state also produces a large tart cherry crop, producing 12.9 million pounds in 2022.
Wisconsin is home to about 5,500 dairy farms, more than any other state, and 1.28 million cows.
- The dairy industry itself contributes $45.6 billion to Wisconsin’s economy each year.
- The feed mills, dairy equipment manufacturers and technicians, veterinarians, construction companies, genetics companies, milk haulers, dairy plants, dairy software companies - create a wave of economic impact that rolls across the entire state.
Wisconsin is #1 in cheese.
- Our state’s nearly 1,200 licensed cheesemakers produce over 600 types, styles and varieties of cheese – nearly double the number of any other state.
- Wisconsin cheesemakers make 25% of the nation’s cheese, producing 3.51 billion pounds in 2023.
- In 2022, the state led the nation with the production of 928 million pounds of specialty cheeses.
Wisconsin exported $3.87 billion of agricultural and food products to 142 countries in 2023.
- Wisconsin currently ranks 11th among U.S. states in food, forestry, and agricultural exports.
- Wisconsin ranks first in the export of specialty cheeses, ginseng roots, prepared/preserved cranberries, mink, dairy bovine genetics, and prepared meats.
- The state's top agricultural export markets include Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, and Japan.
- Sauces and yeasts, dairy, and prepared vegetables were Wisconsin's most valuable agricultural export categories in 2023.
(Updated April 26, 2024)