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 2023 totaled 5.01 million barrels.
- Wisconsin produces 62 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 10.0 million pounds in 2023.
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 2023, the state led the nation with the production of 942 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 May 7, 2024)