Agriculture advertising jobs in the US grew at a 5.7% annual rate in 2016, according to a report released on Wednesday by consulting firm EMC Group.
The report was the largest-ever by EMC.
It marked the first annual report from the consulting firm.
The growth in agriculture advertising employment, which covers the food and beverage, travel and leisure sectors, is driven by two factors: a slowdown in job growth in the food service sector and a surge in hiring in the travel and hospitality industry.
The total number of agricultural advertising jobs rose 4.2% to 1.6 million in 2016 from 1.3 million in 2015, according the report.
That compares to a 3.4% rise in jobs in 2015.
“The growth of the agriculture advertising industry is a direct result of the economic recovery, the expansion of the food industry and increased consumer demand,” said Scott W. Anderson, chief executive officer of EMC, in a statement.
“This strong employment growth is creating the demand for additional talent and is an important driver of future growth.”
The increase in agriculture ad jobs was fueled by an increase in travel and tourism advertising positions.
Travel and leisure ad sales were up 8.1% in 2016.
Travel, leisure and other non-food advertising jobs grew by a combined 6.3% to a record 7.7 million.
EMC says that agricultural advertising job growth is due to several factors.
First, there were increases in the number of farmers and ranchers hiring in 2016 and an increase of nearly 5,000 new full-time jobs.
Second, the industry is diversifying into more categories, with a focus on travel, leisure, entertainment, and health and wellness.
Third, there is a large number of positions that can be filled by candidates who do not have a college degree, such as teachers and managers, Anderson said.
Fourth, there are also significant changes in the way companies are selling advertising, according a report from EMC by consulting company B2B marketer and analyst Mark D. Shulman.
According to the report, the number and types of advertisements sold are changing, from online and mobile to print, digital, and TV.
Shullman said that the growing digital advertising market is contributing to an increase as well as a decrease in print advertising.
In the past, the agriculture and hospitality sector was the fastest-growing segment of the advertising industry, according B2C marketer Matt K. Rauch, co-founder of Rauche Communications.
But he says that, with the slowdown in advertising growth, that growth is now shifting to a more focused area.
With the growing demand for advertising and the increased demand for marketing services, marketers need to be more creative with their advertising and more relevant to a wide range of audiences, he said.
“There is a lot of room for improvement in the ad content and the targeting,” Raucher said.
“The number of ads, which have been increasing in terms of size and scope, is increasing exponentially,” Shulmann added.
“With that increasing number of advertisers, the advertisers are competing against one another to attract the maximum number of consumers to their advertisements.”
“We expect that as this new trend of advertising growth continues, we will see increased demand in the retail space, with food retailers, travel retailers and travel agents looking to be the fastest growing segment of advertising,” Anderson said in the statement.