Animal health is one of the nation’s most innovative industries, investing 8.5% of sales in research and development in 2020. That translates to roughly $45,600 per worker, compared with $15,520 per worker in the manufacturing sector. Animal health products boost activity in veterinary services, animal production, meat and dairy production, and pet services. These four industries generated a combined $548 billion in output and employed 1.3 million. Products for companion animals accounted for nearly 60% of the U.S. animal health market. The U.S. animal health industry generated more than $11 billion in product in 2016-and continues to grow at a gallop, according to a new study. The study, conducted for the Animal Health Institute, found that U.S. animal health companies sold $11.4 billion in products in 2016, selling nearly $10 billion of that to consumers in this country. The industry employed 21,257 and paid $1.2 billion in wages and another $1.2 billion in taxes. That’s big news for the Kansas City area, which is the center of an Animal Health Corridor. The area, running from Manhattan to Columbia, hosts more than 300 animal health companies-which the Kansas City Area Development Council claims it the largest single concentration of such companies in the world.
