and destroys plant life. Ozone pollution is most evident in heavily industri- 

 al ized areas. 



Water Use 



Water use is a seasonal concern, not only to farmers in Northwest Flor- 

 ida, but to all inhabitants. The combination of droughts, irrigation, phos- 

 phate mining, industrial use, and urban use have periodically created water 

 shortages. In the the future, greater competition between agricultural and 

 non-agricultural water use may cause local short-term water shortages. Water 

 resources are valuable to Northwest Florida, and future use and allocation 

 will probably be determined by government action. Seasonal shortages of water 

 may pose a serious challenge to area farmers. To overcome this threat, farmers 

 are likely to seek new methods of irrigation, water retention, and and water 

 management. 



AGRICULTURE'S IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY 



Economic indicators that measure the performance or impact of agriculture 

 and other sectors range from aggregate indicators to multipliers. Aggregate 

 indicators such as employment and income are measures of economic activity. 

 Multipliers are used to predict economic change as the sector grows or 

 declines. 



In a recent study (Loehman and Hsiao 1979), the value of income, output, 



employment, and import multipliers was calculated for Florida to express 



economic change per dollar of final demand. Final demand consists of the 

 demand (purchase) of goods at the retail level. 



OUTPUT AND OTHER MULTIPLIERS 



Output multipliers give an estimate of the change in total output (dollar 

 value) per change in final demand. In 1970, the agriculture and forest pro- 

 ducts processing sector in Florida had four of the top five ranked multipliers 

 (ranked by size of multiplier). These subsectors included frozen package 

 foods, paper products and processing, meat and milk processing, and fish pro- 

 cessing. Primary production multipliers are listed in Table 14. 



For each dollar increase in final demand (in and out of Florida), the 

 dollar value of output related to farm production (i.e., support servies, pro- 

 cessing, etc.) will increase 47.7% for livestock, 40.0% for field crops, 37.9% 

 for vegetables and sugar, 36.8% for fruits and nuts, and 26.7% for forest and 

 nursery products. The dollar value of agricultural output will increase 

 53.8%. 



Income Mul tipliers 



The fruits and nuts industry has the highest income multiplier. When 

 demand and output increase by one dollar, the region's income should increase 

 by a multiplier of 1.397 for fruits and nuts, 1.380 for vegetables and sugar, 

 1.370 for field crops, 1.329 for livestock products, 1.292 for forest and nur- 



126 



