Agriculture companies and industry groups spent more than $165 million to lobby Congress last year, according to data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that collects information on money in politics.
The OpenSecrets data goes back to 1998. Since then, lobbying spending by the agriculture sector had previously peaked at around $154 million in 2013, a Farm Bill year.
Of the industries comprising the agribusiness sector, the “agricultural services and products” category spent the most. Top spenders in that category include chemical companies Corteva, Nutrien and AgLife America; the American Farm Bureau Federation and its state-level counterparts; ADM; Deere & Co and more.
The meat and livestock industries — poultry and eggs, livestock and dairy — spent less than their crop and chemical counterparts.