ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. feed industry added $267 billion to the nation’s economy, highlighting how the animal food industry continued feeding animals, supporting communities and driving innovation amid political, regulatory and global market changes.

That’s according to the American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) 2025-2026 State of the U.S. Animal Food Industry Report, which also showed U.S. animal food manufacturers supported more than 80,300 jobs, while maintaining a 99 percent safety inspection success rate.

Entitled, “Our Industry, Our Promise,” the annual report is the culmination of the association’s celebration of America’s 250-year anniversary guided by the annual theme, “Feeding Independence, Growing Innovation,” said the AFIA, based in Arlington.

“As the AFIA spent the past year illustrating to policymakers how a resilient food system will support another 250 years of American growth and leadership, the report showcases the industry’s economic contributions and progress in animal food safety, supply chain resilience, sustainability, regulatory advocacy, workforce development, and international trade,” the AFIA said in a Sept. 3 media statement.

Dan Meagher, the AFIA’s 2025-2026 board chair, and president and CEO of Novus International, Inc., a U.S. animal health and nutrition company based in Chesterfield. Mo., said in the statement, “The strength of the animal feed industry lies in its people, and their shared commitment to supporting a safe, sustainable, and resilient food system.”

The AFIA said the report focuses on “accomplishments, updates and new frontiers” during the association’s fiscal year, which ran from May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026, with sections covering the industry; the first being “a $267.1 billion economic footprint,” with nearly 5,650 U.S. animal food manufacturers supporting more than 80,300 jobs, and paying $18.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes in 2023.

The report also cited more than 1,000 facilities that are Safe Feed/Safe Food-certified, and roughly 99 percent of federal inspections finding strong safety practices and procedures in place at U.S. feed mills and pet food manufacturing facilities.

The report said the AFIA advanced ingredient review reforms, built support for the Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development Act (or Innovative FEED Act, a currently pending bill, introduced on March 18, 2025, that seeks to modernize U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, and ensure farmers have timely access to innovative feed additives); and represented the industry on emerging federal and state policies.

The report said U.S. animal food exports also reached $7.8 billion in 2025, while the association’s global affairs team continued to work to expand market access opportunities for its members, and elevate feed supply chain vulnerabilities to key decision makers, adding, “As of the most recent figures in 2023, upcycled ingredients made up at least half of pet food ingredients, and 37 percent of livestock feed ingredients.”

In addition, the report detailed the AFIA’s educational and professional development programs, which brought together thousands of animal food industry professionals throughout the year at in-person events and online. These efforts included food safety training, technical education, networking events, and international business development opportunities.

The AFIA said, “The annual report spends time peeking into a future of public-private collaboration to support supply chain infrastructure challenges, stronger animal disease preparation, and navigating emerging policies.”

Andrew P. Griffith, University of Tennessee professor of agricultural and resource economics, who also owns a cattle operation with about 600 head of cattle, told Farm World in his analysis of the report that he thinks some industries get overlooked that also contribute to animal feed.

“My thought here goes toward a soybean crushing plant that generates both soybean meal and soyhulls, or an ethanol facility that generates dried distillers (grain),” he said. “These two are the most obvious, but there are candy manufacturers that sell waste candy as an energy source in feed.”

He said another one is whole cottonseed or cottonseed meal, which would come from the ginning process: “There are a lot of facilities that are making food products for human consumption that also sell animal feed because they make a byproduct, or they simply have waste in their facility that is suitable for livestock.

“This is the long way of saying the numbers presented (in the AFIA report) sound rather large, but if they are accounting for all of these sources of feed, then it should not be surprising,” he added. “We do not waste as much food as many people think as it is used for animal agriculture.”

To read the full report, visit: www.afia.org/news/state-of-industry-report/.