COLUMBUS, Ohio — Agriculture is part of the fabric of Ohio.

What You Need To Know

  • There are an estimated 76,500 farms across the state 

  • The food and agriculture industries employ roughly one in eight Ohioans 

  • Each week, Spectrum News 1 anchor Chuck Ringwalt and agriculture expert Andy Vance discuss an aspect of the state's agricultural landscape

Agriculture contributes more than $124 billion annually to the state economy, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

"When we talk about agriculture as an industry, we're talking about everything from soup to nuts, from farm to fork," agriculture expert Andy Vance said. "That involves the actual farm production – what we're doing on the land. [We're] raising, as you mentioned, corn and soybeans, livestock as well as tending to animals, specialty crops, fruits, and vegetables. We grow a variety of fruits and vegetables in the state of Ohio. But then it also includes the processing, so once those farm products, the commodities, if you will, leave the farm, they go somewhere typically to be processed, packaged or some way turned into food or other products that you and I might consume on a regular basis."

Among other states, Ohio ranks No. 1 for Swiss cheese, No. 2 for eggs, No. 5 for soybeans, No. 7 for corn and No. 10 for turkeys. 

"[There are] quite a large number of facilities in the state employing a lot of Ohioans, turning those raw agriculture commodities into foods that you and I will go and buy at the grocery store. And of course, then there's all the support industries as well. All of the things that farmers buy from vendors to produce those crops or all of the different industries that support food processing factories and so on around the state," Vance said.

If you have an idea for the Ag Report or a question for Chuck and Andy, send an email to charles.ringwalt@charter.com. You can also follow Chuck on Facebook.