This industry consists of establishments primarily engaged in buying or marketing farm products that are not included in another classification. Some samples of the industry's products are animal hair, bristles, feathers, furs and hides, broom corn, raw cotton, hops, unprocessed or shelled-only nuts, tobacco leaf, raw silk, and bovine semen. Animals including chicks, horses, and mules are also industry products.
422590 (Other Farm Product Raw Materials Wholesalers)
In 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau reported 1,517 establishments engaged in buying or marketing farm products that are not included in another classification. The total number of employees represented 12,866, with an annual payroll of $468.8 million. There were a reported 2,402 establishments in 2003, with combined annual sales of $16 billion. The average sales per establishment were about $7.5 million. The employee number had grown to include some 16,983 people.
The industry was subdivided into five categories: cotton representing 34.7 percent of the industry's total sales volume; other farm-product raw materials, representing 25.1 percent; hides, skins, and pelts, representing 21 percent; leaf tobacco, representing 16.2 percent; and wool, wool tops, and mohair, representing 3 percent.
States with the highest number of establishments were Texas with 295, California with 203, Georgia with 135, and New York with 134. Combined, they represented more than 32 percent of the overall market presence, generating approximately $3.5 billion in sales. Tobacco leaf generated the most sales with $7 billion, followed by cotton merchants with $1.9 billion, raw cotton with $1.8 billion, and tobacco distributors and products with $1.2 billion.
The industry closely scrutinized one of its top sellers, cotton, conducting research to improve fiber quality, fiber processing, new yarns and fabrics, and dyeing and finishing. It also performed research on the consumer market by monitoring and analyzing retail sales, textile industry changes, international fashion trends, and consumer attitudes. Of course, the industry's most controversial product was tobacco.
In 2003, the industry leader was H.T. Hackney Co., of Knoxville, Tennessee, with posted sales of $3.3 billion. Universal Corp. of Richmond, Virginia, followed close behind with $2.6 billion in sales. Other leaders included DIMON Incorporated, located in Danville, Virginia, with sales of $1.3 billion, Standard Commercial with $993.7 million, and Louis Dreyfus Corp. with $149.8 million for 2002.
Former leader, Agway Inc., a New York based agricultural cooperative, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 1, 2002. The company blamed the market conditions over the previous three years, but noted the "agriculture sector" as the weakest link. Cargill, Inc. of Wayzata, Minnesota, acquired the majority of Agway's Feed and Nutrition assets on March 15, 2004. However, Agway planned to emerge out of bankruptcy by the end of 2004.
According to a report released by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, there were a total of 9,494 people employed in this industry in 2002. Men totaled 71.2 percent and women totaled 28.8 percent. In the minority category men totaled 25.9 percent and women totaled 8.3 percent. There were a total of 16.1 percent of Hispanics employed in this industry, as well as 0.9 percent Asian Americans. The African American population represented 16.8 percent, while the Native Americans accounted for 0.4 percent.
"2002 EEO—1 Aggregate Report." The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2002. Available from http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/jobpat/2002/sic3/515.html .
"Agway Outlines Next Steps in Chapter 11 Process." 21 April 2003. Available from http://www.agway.com/agwaypr8.html .
D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions, May 2004. Available from http://www.zapdata.com .
Infotrac Company Profiles, 18 February 2000. Available at http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com .
Klein, Mark. "Cargill Completes Acquisition of Agway Feed and Nutrition." 15 March 2004. Available from http://www.agwayfeed.com/Agwaybfcons—pr_acq.html .
U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2001. Available from http://www.census.gov/epcd/susb/2001/US421420.HTM .
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