Agriculture responsible for $1 billion of Marengo County economy

Almost 40 percent of Alabama’s economy is based on agriculture, forestry and related industries, Commissioner of Agriculture John McMillan told Rotarians Wednesday.

With $70.4 billion economic impact, the agricultural industries provide more than 580,000 jobs, he continued, but few Alabamians understand the importance to the state.

Bringing the figures closer to home, McMillan said Marengo County has 7,000 full and part time jobs dependent on agriculture, or more than 63 percent of the workforce. It adds $1 billion to the county’s economy, or 77 percent.

“The people of Alabama just don’t have a clue” as to how important the Department of Agriculture and Industries is, he continued.

First, it is involved in consumer protection through pesticide and chemical industry regulation. The department also runs a food safety lab. Thanks to the BP oil spill settlement, the department received $1.8 million worth of equipment for seafood testing.

The diagnostic services lab conducts blood testing on every flock of chickens produced in the state, or up to 22 million each week.

When he entered office, McMillan said, cutbacks deeply hurt the scope of services his department could offer. “It has not been a happy time.”

Now, however, he is working to implement the programs he pledged to do when elected. Among them is feral hog control, implementing a strategic plan to help commodity producers, and strengthening the inspection of weights and measures throughout the state without asking for any more funding.

He is most proud of trying to respond within 24 hours to any complaint his office received.

McMillan also told the group of his recent trip to Texas with his counterparts from other southern states to see firsthand the immigration problem facing the United States.

“Folks, we don’t have a clue” as to the scope of the problem.

Several hundred people who try to enter the country illegally each year die en route. “It is a sad situation,” he said, and added that there is no way to secure the border between Mexico and the U.S.