April 17, 2023

2050 seems like a long way off, but it will come sooner than we realize. To feed a growing world population, experts suggest we’ll have to increase food production by a whopping 68%. With more people expected to be defined as middle class, we could witness growing demand for meat over grains, legumes, and wheat. The increased demand for meat also presents challenges for the planet. While health experts strongly recommend people eat more grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, the increase in meat consumption is quite likely.

According to the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, “Farmers form the backbone of Delaware’s economy. Corn is the top crop, watermelons are the leading fruit crop, and broilers are the most valuable agricultural product. Other important Delaware agricultural products include wheat, barley, apples, peaches, grapes, peas, and dairy.” The poultry industry consumes much of the corn and soybeans grown here in Delaware as feedstock.

The importance of agriculture to our state is oftentimes overlooked, but here at the State Chamber, we applaud our farmers and agriculture companies for their contributions.

The week begins today with an early look at the home builder confidence index. Tuesday brings us housing starts data and building permits results from March. New York Fed President Williams offers remarks about the economy on Wednesday night, while the Philadelphia Fed releases its manufacturing index on Thursday. Also on Thursday, we’ll learn more about the housing market when existing home sales from March are made public. The national leading economic indicators for March are out on Thursday too. We wrap up the week on Friday with a speech by Fed Governor Cook, and flash results from S&P for both manufacturing and services.

M&T Bank headlines the earnings call calendar on Monday, and is joined by Charles Schwab, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, and State Street. Tuesday is a busy day with scheduled calls for Bank of America, Fulton Financial, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, United Airlines, and Netflix. Tesla headlines the calls on Wednesday and is joined by ALCOA, Discover Financial Services, Equifax, Kinder Morgan, Las Vegas Sands, and U.S. Bancorp. AT&T, Alaska Air, American Express, CSX, Rite Aid, and SAP round out a busy week of calls.

As Delaware's top industry, agriculture is vital to the local economy, providing jobs, economic opportunity, and locally grown food to feed Delawareans and visitors.

Delaware agriculture provides more than 66,000 jobs and $8.94 billion of economic activity, including $1.5 billion in direct sales from 2,300 family farms. Delaware farmers produce various agricultural products on 525,000 acres, including corn, soybeans, wheat, poultry, and vegetables. Read more >

525,324 acres in farming—42% of the state’s total land

2,302 farms—or one farm for every 420 people

780 family farms raise poultry

800+ farms grow corn and/or soybeans for grain

9,880 acres dedicated to harvesting lima beans—that’s more than any other state

500+ farms have more than 4,100 horses and ponies

20,000+ acres of state forests

300 million honeybees are needed to pollinate the state’s crops each year

Second most effective farmland preservation program in the U.S. by the American Farmland Trust

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