Is Mining Agriculture? How Every Code Classifies It

No, mining is not agriculture. Every major industry classification puts the two in separate groups. The United Nations standard, ISIC Revision 4, files crop and livestock work under Section A (agriculture, forestry and fishing) and the extraction of coal, ores, stone, salt and other minerals under Section B (mining and quarrying). The US system (NAICS) does the same with sector 11 for agriculture and sector 21 for mining. The two sectors do meet, though: in some government statistics, in fertilizer supply, and on the same land. This guide sets out where the line sits, where it blurs, and what it means for a licence holder, consultant or investor.

The short reason is simple. Agriculture grows living things that can be grown again. Mining removes minerals that formed over geological time and do not grow back. That difference drives different laws, different safety agencies, different tax rules and different land-use permits.

Is mining considered agriculture? How official classifications answer

Statistical agencies sort every business into one activity code. Those codes decide which survey a company answers, which agency counts its jobs and, often, which rules apply to it. Here is how the main systems treat the two sectors.

ISIC defines Section B as the extraction of minerals that occur naturally as solids such as coal and ores, liquids such as petroleum, or gases, whether by underground or surface mining, wells or seabed mining. It also covers the dressing of ore (crushing, grinding, washing, concentrating) at or near the mine. Agriculture, by contrast, is the use of plant and animal resources: growing crops, raising animals, logging and fishing.

The European Union uses its own list, NACE, and its newest version (NACE Rev. 2.1) applies to European statistics from 2025 onwards (Eurostat, 2026). Mining stays outside agriculture in it too.

Why some reports put mining and farming in the same row

Readers sometimes see “agriculture and mining” or “natural resources and mining” as one line. That is a reporting group, not a merger. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups NAICS sector 11 and sector 21 into one Natural Resources and Mining supersector for its jobs tables. Its monthly payroll series for that group covers mining and logging only, at about 605,000 jobs in October 2026 (preliminary, seasonally adjusted, BLS). Economists also call both “primary” or “extractive” sectors because they take raw materials from nature. Neither label makes mining a form of agriculture.

Is mining part of agriculture or industry?

Mining is counted as an industry. In the US national accounts and in most countries’ GDP tables it sits among the goods-producing industries, next to construction and manufacturing, while agriculture has its own line. In the three-sector model taught in economics classes, both are “primary” activities, because they produce raw materials. So the fair answer to “which sector of the economy is mining in?” is: the primary sector, and within it the industrial (non-farm) side.

Which agency regulates which

The regulatory split is clear in the United States. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) enforces safety and health rules at all US mines, whatever their size, commodity or method. Farms fall under different safety rules and different agencies. Land rules differ as well: a mine needs mining permits, reclamation plans and bonds, while a farm usually needs none of these. For a practical view of mine hazards and controls, see our guide to mining safety systems ranked by hazard.

▶ What mining adds to an economy, as an industry in its own right. · 5:03

Mining and agriculture: the key differences

Two mining terms appear often below. Grade is how much metal or mineral is in each tonne of rock, given in percent or grams per tonne (g/t). An ore body is a volume of rock with enough grade to mine at a profit. A farm’s value lies in topsoil that keeps producing; a mine’s value lies in a fixed stock of ore that runs out.

What is considered agriculture?

Agriculture is the growing of crops and the raising of animals for food, fibre and other products, plus closely related work such as forestry and fishing in the ISIC grouping. It depends on living processes and on soil that can be kept productive. The United States had 377 million acres of cropland in 2022, the lowest level since the series began in 1945 (USDA Economic Research Service, Major Land Uses).

What is mining?

Mining is the extraction of naturally occurring minerals from the ground or seabed, together with the first steps of processing at the site. It includes metal mines, coal mines, quarries for stone and sand, salt works and solution mining of brines. The minerals form in particular geological settings, which our guide to types of ore deposits explains with grades and examples.

Where the line blurs: fertilizer minerals, peat and salt

The closest link between the two sectors is fertilizer. Farms need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Phosphorus and potassium come mostly from mines. ISIC puts the mining of chemical and fertilizer minerals, peat and salt in Section B, so these are mining even though most of the output ends up on fields.

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Potash mine production by country

Million tonnes K2O equivalent, 2025 estimates, selected countries

• Phosphate rock. In 2025, five companies mined phosphate rock at 10 US mines in Florida, Idaho, North Carolina and Utah, producing about 20 million tons of marketable product worth US$1.9 billion. More than 95% of it went into phosphoric acid used mainly to make fertilizers and animal feed supplements (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). World mine output was about 250 million tons in 2025.
• Potash. In farming, “potash” means potassium fertilizers such as potassium chloride. World mine production reached about 49 million tons of K2O equivalent (potassium oxide, the standard reporting unit) in 2025, led by Canada at about 15 million tons (USGS, 2026).
• Peat and salt. Peat dug for horticulture and salt from rock or brine are both mining activities in ISIC, even when a farm buys the product.

So a potash mine supplies agriculture, but it is still a mine: it holds a mining licence, answers to mine safety rules and must reclaim its land.

What is considered a rare earth mineral?

The page address also promises rare earth facts, so here they are. The rare earth elements are 17 metals: the 15 lanthanides (lanthanum to lutetium) plus scandium and yttrium. A rare earth mineral is a mineral that carries these elements in useful amounts. The main ore minerals are bastnaesite, mined at Mountain Pass in California, and monazite, which is recovered from heavy-mineral sands in the southeastern United States (USGS, 2026).

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US rare earth mine production

Thousand tonnes REO in mineral concentrates

The name is misleading. USGS notes that rare earths are fairly abundant in the Earth’s crust, but deposits rich enough to mine are less common than for most other minerals. Separating the elements from each other is also hard, because they behave alike chemically. The heavy rare earths (terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium) are the scarcest and are used in high-strength magnets, lasers and medical equipment.

Rare earth production and prices

World mine production was about 390,000 tons of rare earth oxide (REO) in 2025, up from 380,000 tons in 2024, and China produced about 270,000 tons of it (USGS, 2026). The older version of this page gave a world figure of about 280,000 tons; the current USGS figure is higher. US mine output rose to about 51,000 tons of REO in concentrates in 2025, worth US$240 million. The leading world use was magnets, while the leading US use was catalysts.

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Rare earth oxide prices, 2024 vs 2025

Annual average, US$ per kilogram

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Rare earth mine production, 2025

Thousand tonnes of rare earth oxide (REO), estimates

Prices in the USGS series are annual averages. Neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, the key magnet input, averaged US$69 per kilogram in 2025, up from US$55 in 2024, but well below US$124 in 2022 (USGS, 2026). For deposits and projects by state, see our US rare earth minerals map and the comparison of Wyoming rare earth deposits.

Are rare earths used in farming?

Not as a main input. Rare earths are not a plant nutrient in the way nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium are, and USGS lists no farm use among their main end uses (catalysts, magnets, batteries, ceramics and glass, alloys and polishing). Their link to farming is mostly about land: a rare earth mine, like any mine, may sit on or next to farmland.

When a mine sits on farmland: what the rules require

This is where the two sectors meet most directly. A mine can take farmland out of use for years, and the law in many places says how it must be given back. In the United States, coal mines on prime farmland must follow federal soil rules in 30 CFR Part 823:

• Topsoil and subsoil layers must be removed and stored separately, then replaced.
• The rebuilt soil must normally be at least 48 inches (about 1.2 m) deep, unless the natural soil had a root-limiting layer at a shallower depth.
• The operator must prove crop yields equal to or higher than those of unmined prime farmland nearby, measured over at least three crop years, before the performance bond is released.

Other minerals and other countries use their own reclamation rules, but the idea is similar: plan the after-use before mining, keep the soil, and post a bond that covers the cost of putting the land back. Licence holders who buy ground with farm use on or next to it should price this in early. The calculator below gives a first estimate of the soil volume involved.

Reclamation step by step

1. Baseline survey. Map soils, water, vegetation and current land use before any ground is broken.
2. Strip and store soil. Remove topsoil and subsoil separately, keep them in labelled, vegetated stockpiles.
3. Reshape the land. Backfill and grade pits and dumps to stable slopes that drain well.
4. Rebuild the soil profile. Replace subsoil, then topsoil, to the depth the permit requires; avoid heavy compaction.
5. Revegetate and prove it works. Plant the agreed crop or pasture and measure yields until the regulator releases the bond.

How mining affects nearby farms: soil, water and dust

The concerns farmers raise near mines are practical ones. Water is the main one: mine dewatering can lower nearby wells, and poorly managed tailings or waste rock can release acidic water and metals. Dust from haul roads and stockpiles can settle on crops and pasture. Land is the third: haul roads, pits and dumps take ground out of farm use, and access disputes can follow. Well-run sites use buffer zones, water treatment, covered or wetted stockpiles, and regular soil and water testing shared with neighbours.

For communities, the most useful steps are the same everywhere: ask to see the reclamation plan and bond amount before mining starts, ask for baseline soil and water tests on nearby farms, and join any monitoring committee the permit sets up. Owning a mining claim is also not the same as owning the surface; in many places a farmer may own the land while someone else holds the mineral rights.

▶ Seven environmental effects of mining, from water to dust, explained in clay animation. · 2:31

What this means for licence holders, consultants and investors

• Licence holders. A mining licence does not carry farm tax treatment or farm subsidies. If part of a tenement is farmed, expect surface-use agreements, compensation and stricter reclamation, especially on high-quality farmland.
• Consultants. Land-use and soil baselines are part of most permit applications. Satellite imagery is a quick way to map field boundaries, crop cover and bare ground over a licence before a site visit.
• Investors. Mining and agriculture sit in different index sectors and react to different price cycles. Fertilizer miners (potash and phosphate) are the bridge: they are mining companies whose demand follows farm income.

Farmonaut’s satellite-based mineral detection screens a licence area from space before field work, which keeps early exploration off the ground. You can request a mining quote or contact the team with your project polygon.

▶ Why owning a mining claim is not the same as owning the land. · 3:19

Frequently asked questions

Is mining considered agriculture anywhere?

Not in the main statistical systems. ISIC (United Nations), NAICS (North America) and NACE (European Union) all place mining in a separate section from agriculture. Some jobs reports group them under “natural resources”, but that is a reporting label only.

Is mining part of the agriculture sector?

No. Mining is a goods-producing industry with its own sector code. Both mining and farming are called primary activities because they produce raw materials.

Is mining agriculture or industry?

Industry. National accounts list mining among industries, alongside construction and manufacturing, while agriculture has its own line.

Which sector of the economy is mining in?

The primary sector, together with agriculture, forestry and fishing. Within statistical codes it is NAICS sector 21 in the United States and ISIC Section B internationally.

Is potash or phosphate mining part of agriculture?

No. Even though most potash and phosphate becomes fertilizer, ISIC classes the mining of chemical and fertilizer minerals as mining and quarrying.

Is quarrying sand and gravel on a farm agriculture?

No. Quarrying stone, sand and clay is in ISIC Section B, even when the pit is on a farm. It usually needs a separate permit.

Is logging agriculture or mining?

Logging is in Section A of ISIC, with agriculture and forestry. US jobs reports, however, pair “mining and logging” in one payroll series.

Can mined land be farmed again?

Yes, if soil is saved and rebuilt properly. US rules for coal mining on prime farmland require at least 48 inches of rebuilt soil in most cases and proof of normal crop yields over at least three crop years.

What is considered a rare earth mineral?

A mineral that carries the 17 rare earth elements (the lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium) in useful amounts, mainly bastnaesite and monazite.

Are rare earth elements actually rare?

Not in the crust. USGS describes them as relatively abundant, but mineable concentrations are less common than for most minerals.

Does MSHA regulate farms?

No. MSHA covers mines. Farms fall under other safety rules.