1 job in 10 Attributed to Agriculture In NW

With the Agribusiness Update I'm Susan Allen. More than 12 cents of every $1 generated and 1 job in 10 are attributed to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries in the five-state region of the Northwest – Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. This comes from a study recently commissioned by Northwest Farm Credit Services and conducted by OSU Rural Studies Program and the University of Idaho Extension Service. The study concludes that the total economic impact of the ag, forestry and fisheries segments comprise nearly ,900,000 jobs and over $176 billion in sales. And on the livestock front, Kansas State University researchers have found feeding concentrations of zinc that are higher than recommended dietary concentrations can help improve the growth of finishing cattle, a finding that could lead to more profits for the industry. They reported results of a trial that fed zinc at concentrations ranging from 0 to 90 parts per million of the finishing diet. The current recommendation for nutrient requirements of beef cattle is 30 parts per million dietary zinc. The study suggests that finishing cattle have requirements for zinc that are substantially higher than the currently recommended concentrations."