Input Stories

As part of its national effort to showcase the manufacturing industry’s strength and potential for further growth, the NAM released a landmark report on manufacturing across the U.S. food and beverage supply chain.

The report: “Manufacturers Feed America,” released during the NAM State of Manufacturing Tour, details how manufacturers in America deliver safe, affordable, accessible and nutritious food and beverage options—using world-class science and rigorous safety standards.  

• The report also includes policy recommendations to help policymakers protect and strengthen the system that ensures American families can count on safe, abundant and affordable food every day.

By the numbers: As the nation’s largest manufacturing sector, the food and beverage industry supports 47 million jobs, generating $2.8 trillion in wages and contributing $9.5 trillion in economic output—benefiting every community in the country and especially its rural agricultural regions.

Why it matters: The food and beverage industry’s strength and success depend on maintaining evidence-based safeguards over ideological approaches, the report noted.

• Recent legislative and regulatory proposals create new restrictions on food ingredients and packaging, creating an unworkable patchwork of regulations that threatens to drive up costs, weaken delicate supply chains and undermine the science-based standards that enable farmers and manufacturers to deliver safe, abundant and affordable food to Americans nationwide.  

The NAM says: At the industrial and agricultural equipment manufacturer CNH’s Racine Experience Center, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons  said:

• “Food manufacturers are focused on affordability and are committed to keeping America’s food supply safe, reliable and nutritious. By investing in innovation and strengthening safety standards, they help ensure that nutritious food remains accessible to families in every community.”
• “A thriving food and beverage sector strengthens communities, supports jobs and drives economic growth. Maintaining U.S. leadership in this sector is essential to long-term economic growth, supply chain resilience and global competitiveness.”
• “Manufacturing powers the engine that feeds America—from farm, to processing, to packaging, to distribution. America’s manufacturers are leading the world in these life-enhancing innovations, making America the best place to invest, create jobs and grow communities. But fragmented or ideology-driven proposals could increase costs for families, reduce access to food and slow innovation—without improving public health.”  

Learn more: The NAM also launched a  digital hub to accompany the report, complete with  video testimonials from industry leaders of America’s food and beverage manufacturers at every step of the supply chain as well as policy papers with educational information about beneficial food and beverage policies. For more information, visit  nam.org/issues/manufacturers-feed-america/. 

NAM in the news: POLITICO’s Morning Agriculture and Morning Pulse newsletters (subscription), as well as The Hill, covered the report.