Arizona Beef Facts
- In Arizona there are 19,000 farms and ranches.3
- Cattle in Arizona account for $6.73 Million in cash receipts.8
- There are 882,692 cattle operations in the United States, of which 82.6% are cow-calf producers.1-2
- There are 980,000 cattle and calves in Arizona and is ranked 31st in the Nation5
- Arizona has 196,000 beef cows that have calved6 with 194,000 dairy cows that have calved.
- There are 265,000 cattle on feed in the state of Arizona.7
- Cattle are raised in every county in Arizona.
- Beef cattle are estimated to produce only about 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.9.
- Beef cattle regenerate land and sequester carbon naturally, simply by grazing. In fact, the U.S. land where cattle graze contains up-to 30% of the world's carbon stored in soil.10
Sources:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017 Census of Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
- (NASS Annual Estimate) Publication | Farms and Land in Farms | ID: 5712m6524 | USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (cornell.edu)
- (2017 Ag Census) 2017 Census (nass.usda.gov)
- (NASS AE) Publication | Cattle | ID: h702q636h | USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (cornell.edu)
- January 1, 2021: (NASS AE) Publication | Cattle | ID: h702q636h | USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (cornell.edu)
- (NASS Monthly Estimate) Publication | Cattle | ID: h702q636h | USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (cornell.edu)
- (NASS Annual Estimate) Publication | Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income Annual Summary | ID: 02870v85d | USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (cornell.edu)
- EPA. 2021. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2019.
- Silveira, et al. 2012. Carbon sequestration in grazing land ecosystems. University of Florida Extension. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/SS/SS57400.pdf
Share the Facts on Social Media
Download the below graphics to post on your social pages!
The Contribution of the Beef Industry to the Arizona Economy
A study by the University of Arizona's Cooperative Extension Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (read the 2014 study here)
- Arizona's beef industry manages more than 71 percent of the state’s cattle and calf inventory.
- Grazing is the dominant land use in Arizona, making up 73 percent of Arizona’s total land area and approximately 98 percent of Arizona’s total agricultural land, with cropland accounting for the remaining 2 percent of agricultural land.
- The beef community contributed $431 million to Arizona’s GDP.
- Approximately 21 percent of all farms in Arizona specialize in beef production.
- The beef industry exports approximately $521 million (43%) of its total beef output.
- For every 100 jobs in the cattle community, 65 jobs in outside operations are created.
