North Carolina Percentage of Workforce in Agriculture

North Carolina’s percentage of workforce in agriculture is 20% under the wide definition NC State University uses: about 1 million jobs in food, fiber and forestry, or one job in five across the state (Dorfman, NC State, 2026, using 2024 data). On farms themselves the count is far smaller: the 2022 Census of Agriculture lists 55,536 hired farm workers in the state.

Both numbers are real. They answer different questions. This page shows what each one counts, how the headline share has moved across five NC State reports, and gives a calculator that turns your own job counts into shares. Read the numbers before you quote them, because a share of “agriculture” changes with the definition behind it.

North Carolina percentage of workforce in agriculture: the 20% figure

The 20% comes from a report by Jeffrey Dorfman, an agricultural economist at NC State University. In an NC State interview published on 1 September 2026, he said the report defines agriculture as the food, fiber and forestry sector. NC State and the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have used that definition for more than 40 years.

The sector covers every stage from growing and raising farm products until people eat, wear or use them. That includes input suppliers such as tractor dealers and fertilizer sellers, and processors of turkey, pickles, cotton fabric, cigarettes, wood and paper. It also includes restaurants, grocery stores and the garden sections of nurseries and large retail stores.

Dorfman states that the sector employs more people than any other industry in the state: one of every five jobs, or about 1 million jobs. The next three groups, professional and business services, education and health care services, and government, each hold about 15% of state jobs. He also says the $117 billion economic impact in the same report is not boosted by multiplier effects.

What the 20% does not mean

It does not mean that one worker in five drives a tractor or milks a cow. Many of the jobs are in food stores, restaurants and factories. Reading the 20% as “farm workers” overstates farm labor by a wide margin, and the next sections show by how much.

The Dorfman interview also warns that ranking industries is hard, because industries overlap. Food retail, for example, can be counted in retail and in the food sector. For that reason, treat the 20% as the size of a food-and-fiber chain, not as a head count of people on farms.

How the share has moved across NC State reports

NC State has published the figure repeatedly, and the numbers have changed with the data year and with the author. The 2020 report by economist Mike Walden counted about 772,000 jobs in 2018, or 17.5% of the state’s 4.4 million employees (NC State, 2020). A May 2021 post by the state agriculture commissioner cited 789,000 jobs, roughly 17.5% of the workforce (NCDA&CS, 2021).

Chart

Agriculture and agribusiness share of North Carolina jobs

Percent of state workforce, by data year, from four NC State and NCDA&CS reports

The 2024 update, built on 2022 USDA data, gave 16%: over 777,600 jobs out of a 4.8 million workforce (NCDA&CS, 2024). The next update, on 2023 data and prepared by Dorfman after Walden retired, reported 965,000 jobs, 19% of the workforce, and 1 in every 5 jobs (NCDA&CS, December 2025). The report on 2024 data gives 20% and about 1 million jobs.

The jump between the 2022 and 2023 data is larger than any real change in hiring would likely explain: jobs rose from 777,600 to 965,000 while the economic impact fell from $111.1 billion to $102 billion. The published posts do not say whether the method changed with the new author, so compare the early and late reports with care. Dividing 965,000 jobs by 19% implies a workforce of about 5.1 million, and 1 million by 20% implies 5.0 million. That is our arithmetic, not a published total.

Other figures you may see

Search results show several shares for the same state, and each traces back to one of the reports above. A National FFA article on an October 2026 event gives “approximately 1 in 6” jobs as the answer to a quiz question on North Carolina agriculture, which is close to the 16% in the report on 2022 data; the report on 2024 data says one in five.

Dollar totals vary in the same way. The economic impact was $111.1 billion in the report on 2022 data, $102 billion in the report on 2023 data, and $117 billion in the report on 2024 data. Check the data year and the author before you copy any of them, and keep job shares and dollar shares apart: agriculture was 13% of the state’s total economic output in the 2023 report, which is a different measure from its share of jobs.

What the jobs are: food, fiber and forestry, side by side

The post on the 2023 data puts the total at $102 billion and lists five parts (NCDA&CS, December 2025): food and related products $58.9 billion, forestry and related products $14.6 billion, tobacco and related products $12.7 billion, green industry $4.2 billion, and fiber and related industries $3 billion. These five add to $93.4 billion, and the post does not say what makes up the other $8.6 billion. Food and related products is the biggest part by a wide margin, which fits the point above: much of the sector sits after the farm gate.

The table sets the common ways to count “agriculture” next to each other. Use the row that matches your question.

The chart below puts the 20% in context. It shows the share of state jobs held by the food, fiber and forestry sector next to the three groups that come closest.

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Share of North Carolina jobs by sector

Percent of state jobs, 2024 data; the three comparison groups are each given as about 15%

How many people work on North Carolina farms

For farm-level labor, the best count is the 2022 Census of Agriculture from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS, 2022 Census, North Carolina state data). It counted 42,817 farms on 8.1 million acres and 72,479 producers (NASS county profile, 2022).

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People working on North Carolina farms

Number of people, Census of Agriculture 2022

Hired labor was reported on 10,464 farms, with 55,536 hired workers in total. Of these, 29,629 worked 150 days or more and 25,907 worked fewer than 150 days. The census also lists 31,534 unpaid workers on 14,044 farms, and 1,387 farms with hired labor that used migrant farm labor. These are counts of people, not full-time equivalents, so a worker who picked for three weeks counts the same as one who worked all year.

Hired farm labor cost $932.7 million in 2022, up from $810.0 million in 2017 (NASS, 2022 Census). The number of farms with hired labor fell from 12,492 to 10,464 over the same five years. In other words, fewer farms were paying more for labor, before any adjustment for inflation.

How this compares with the United States

USDA’s Economic Research Service notes that hired farmworkers make up less than 1 percent of all U.S. wage and salary workers (ERS, farm labor). Across the country, wage and salary jobs in agriculture rose from 1.07 million in 2010 to 1.18 million in 2024 (ERS, Charts of Note). On the wide measure, agriculture, food and related industries made up 5.5% of U.S. gross domestic product in 2023 (ERS, ag and food sectors). That is a share of output, not of jobs, so it is not directly comparable to North Carolina’s 20% of jobs.

Hired workers by farm size

Hired labor is not spread evenly. The census table that sorts farms by acres shows that the 625 farms of 2,000 acres or more that used hired labor employed 11,518 hired workers, about 18 per farm. The 3,708 farms under 50 acres that used hired labor employed 12,754 workers, about 3 per farm. Between those, farms of 50 to 139 acres averaged about 4 workers, and farms of 1,000 to 1,999 acres averaged about 8 (our arithmetic from NASS, 2022 Census, Table 71).

The chart shows the same split. Small farms add up to a large share of hired workers because there are so many of them, and the largest farms add up because each one hires many. The middle size classes hold fewer workers in total.

Chart

Hired farm workers by farm size

Number of hired workers by acres per farm, 2022 (size classes grouped by us)

Why a 20% share and a 1% share can both be right

With the Census numbers above, hired farm workers are about 1% of a 5 million workforce (our back-calculation, 1 million jobs divided by 20%; not a published total). With the NC State numbers, the food, fiber and forestry sector is 20%. The gap is the food processing plants, stores, restaurants, nurseries, mills and suppliers that depend on farm products but are not farms.

The calculator below lets you test this with your own numbers. It starts with example values from the sources on this page: a 5 million workforce (our back-calculation, 1 million jobs divided by 20%), 1 million sector jobs from the 2024 data, and the 2022 Census counts for hired and unpaid farm workers. Replace them with a county figure, a newer report or your own payroll to see how the shares change.

Try the numbers for your own farm below.

Which products support the jobs

The state agriculture commissioner’s 2024 post says North Carolina ranks first for sweet potatoes, tobacco, and poultry and eggs, second for Christmas trees, turkeys and trout, third for hogs and cucumbers, fourth for peanuts and broilers, and fifth for cotton. It counts 21 commodities in the national top 10 (NCDA&CS, 2024).

Sales from the farm tell the same story. The 2022 Census puts total sales at $18.7 billion, 8th among the states, and 75% of that came from livestock, poultry and their products (NASS, 2022). Poultry and eggs alone were $9.2 billion and hogs and pigs $4.1 billion. Crops made up $4.7 billion, led by grains, oilseeds and dry beans at $1.9 billion, then vegetables and sweet potatoes at $697 million and tobacco at $504 million.

This mix matters for jobs. Livestock and poultry sales feed processing plants and feed mills, which are food-sector jobs that the 20% includes and the farm count does not. USDA notes that wages and contract labor were 42 percent of production expenses for greenhouse and nursery operations and 40 percent for fruit and tree nut operations in 2022, against 12 percent for all farms (ERS, farm labor). Those crops are where hired labor weighs most.

Labor pressures behind the numbers

Seasonal work is a large part of the farm count. The census lists 25,907 hired workers who worked fewer than 150 days, nearly half of all hired workers on farms. The federal H-2A program lets employers bring in temporary agricultural workers for up to 10 months when they cannot find U.S. workers. USDA reports that certified H-2A positions rose from just over 48,000 in fiscal 2005 to around 385,000 in fiscal 2024 (ERS, farm labor). The ERS page gives national figures only, so check the Department of Labor’s H-2A data for North Carolina totals.

Farm size and farm type also shape the workforce. Of the state’s 42,817 farms, 15,748 sold less than $2,500 in 2022, while 7,857 sold $100,000 or more (NASS county profile, 2022). Small and part-time farms often rely on family and unpaid labor, and the census counts 31,534 unpaid workers on 14,044 farms.

Rules to check before you hire

Wage, housing, pesticide-training and immigration rules for farm employers are set by federal and state agencies and change. Before you hire, check the rules with the NC Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Labor and a qualified adviser. This page describes statistics, not legal or financial advice.

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Who runs North Carolina farms

The same census lists 72,479 producers, the people who make decisions on the state’s farms. Of these, 6,208 are under 35, 38,824 are 35 to 64, and 27,447 are 65 or older (NASS county profile, 2022). That makes 8.6%, 53.6% and 37.9% (our arithmetic). A producer age mix like this is one reason the 2022 labor counts matter: as owners retire, farms are sold, merged or run with more hired help.

Women are 24,160 of the producers, one in three, and men are 48,319. The profile also reports that 79% of farms have internet access, which affects how easily a farm can use digital tools for record keeping and field monitoring. Small farms are a large part of the picture: 15,748 of the 42,817 farms sold less than $2,500 of products in 2022, and 7,857 sold $100,000 or more.

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Finding the share for your own county

A state share hides large differences between counties. Sampson, Robeson, Duplin, Union and Halifax have the most land in farms, with 292,205, 263,080, 254,164, 212,066 and 183,565 acres in 2022 (NASS county profile). Each county has its own profile in the Census of Agriculture, and the county tables give farms, hired workers and payroll.

For the wider sector, the NC Ag Partnership Foundation presented county economic impact, employment, wages and proprietor income for ten counties on 7 October 2026, and reported that Johnston County accounted for $1.9 billion of the statewide impact (National FFA Organization, 2026). Use a county profile for farm jobs and a county impact report for sector jobs, and do not mix the two in one ratio.

What this means for a farm manager planning labor

A state share is a poor guide for a single farm. Your own payroll, your crop calendar and your county matter more. The Census numbers still give useful yardsticks. Spread across the 10,464 farms that hired labor, the $932.7 million of 2022 hired farm labor expense averages about $89,000 per farm, and across 55,536 hired workers it averages about $16,800 per worker (our arithmetic). Both averages blend part-year and full-year workers and very large and very small farms, so they are not wages.

Three planning questions follow from the data. First, how many of your workers are needed all year and how many only for a few weeks? Statewide, the census splits hired workers almost evenly at 150 days. Second, does your farm sit in a size class that hires many workers? Farms of 1,000 acres or more hired more people per farm than smaller ones in 2022. Third, which tasks could change if you spent less time walking fields? Satellite or drone images can direct scouting, but they do not replace the people who act on what the scout finds.

When you budget for labor, use your own payroll records and a recent wage survey from your state labor department or extension office. Follow federal and state employment rules, and speak to a qualified adviser about contracts, housing and visas.

Technology and the farm workforce

Machines and data change which jobs exist more than they change how many. University of Illinois economists wrote in January 2026 that precision agriculture shifts labor demand from manual to technical and analytical work, such as maintaining sensors, robots and data systems (farmdoc daily, 2026). They cite about 36,830 farm equipment mechanics and service technicians employed in the U.S. in 2023, and note industry reports of a shortage of qualified technicians.

A farm manager can use satellite images to see which fields need a walk first. Farmonaut Satellite + AI Farm Monitoring System shows vegetation maps for fields drawn by the user, so a scout can start with the fields that changed. Images show plant cover, not the cause, so a visit is still needed.

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How to quote the North Carolina number correctly

1. Say which measure you mean: food, fiber and forestry jobs (about 20%) or farm workers (about 1%).
2. Give the data year and author: the 2024 data, Dorfman, NC State.
3. Use the same workforce total in the top and bottom of any share you compute.
4. Do not compare the 2022-data and 2023-data job counts without a note, since the author changed between reports.
5. For a county, use the NASS county profile and NC State’s county agriculture profiles instead of the state share.

FAQ

What percent of North Carolina’s workforce is in agriculture?

About 20%, or around 1 million jobs, when agriculture means food, fiber and forestry (NC State, 2024 data). The earlier report on 2023 data gave 965,000 jobs and 19%.

Is that 20% all farm workers?

No. It includes processing, food retail, restaurants, nurseries, forestry and suppliers. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 55,536 hired farm workers and 31,534 unpaid workers on North Carolina farms.

Why do older reports say 16% or 17.5%?

They used older data years, different workforce totals and a different author. The 2018 data gave 17.5% of 4.4 million employees, and the 2022 data gave 16% of 4.8 million.

Which crops and animals bring in the most farm sales?

Poultry and eggs lead farm sales at $9.2 billion, followed by hogs at $4.1 billion (NASS, 2022). The state ranks first for sweet potatoes, tobacco, and poultry and eggs (NCDA&CS, 2024).

Where can I check the newest number?

Look for the yearly economic impact report from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and for new Census of Agriculture tables from USDA NASS.

Related pages on our site

More on this topic: NC agriculture workforce explained, North Carolina farm labor shortage and Georgia’s agriculture workforce. Also: crop loans and insurance, farm administration, product traceability, carbon footprinting, fleet management, weather data for developers and farm monitoring apps.