Introductory
Video
- Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing |
- Construction |
- Manufacturing |
- Mining |
- Transportation |
- Wholesale and Distribution
industry sectors > agriculture forestry fishing
- Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing Industry Sector Map Image with Key
- Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing Companies Database
The central and western counties in Alabama are known as the "Black Belt" because of the dark surface colors of many of the soils. Alabama has approximately 48,500 farms. The Black Belt is the agricultural center of Alabama's economy. Alabama has around 22,000 water acres of fish farms where nearly 200 commercial farmers produce 25 different aquatic species. Farm-raised catfish is by far the dominant species, with Alabama ranking second in the United States in annual catfish sales. Currently, Alabama farmers produce approximately 100 million pounds of catfish per year. Alabama has the land and water resources to support an industry 10 times its current size. Hunting has an $840 million economic impact on the state and creates more than 17,500 jobs.
The forestry industry is the largest manufacturing industry that produced an estimated $15.39 billion worth of products in 2005. Alabama forests are growing more trees than ever recorded. These forests support 48,000 people who are directly employed with forest-based companies and 100,000 people who are indirectly dependent upon the forest industry.
There are approximately 2,104 jobs directly related to the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting sector in the Black Belt.