Analysis
NAICS 3253 is the 2022 industry group for pesticide, fertilizer, and other agricultural chemical manufacturing, part of 325 (Chemical Manufacturing). Census lists 71 example activities under it in the official index.
County Business Patterns counts 1,033 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 37,403 people at an average annual payroll of $94,379 per employee (80th percentile of national industries). 30% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
By establishments it ranks 7th of the 7 codes at this level within Chemical Manufacturing, with 7.1% of them.
Across its national industries Census lists 71 index entries; typical ones are ammonia, anhydrous and aqueous, manufacturing, ammonium phosphates manufacturing, fertilizers, mixed, made in plants not manufacturing… and compost manufacturing.
Its goods appear in 70 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 3808 (insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides…), 3102 (mineral or chemical fertilizers, nitrogenous) and 3105 (mineral or chemical fertilizers containing two or three of…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
It splits into 2 more detailed codes. The largest by establishments is 32531 (Fertilizer and Compost Manufacturing) with 781.
Official definition
This industry group comprises establishments primarily engaged in one or more of the following: (1) manufacturing nitrogenous or phosphatic fertilizer materials; (2) manufacturing fertilizers from sewage or animal waste; (3) manufacturing nitrogenous or phosphatic materials and mixing with other ingredients into fertilizers; (4) mixing ingredients made elsewhere into fertilizers; (5) manufacturing compost; and (6) formulating and preparing pesticides and other agricultural chemicals.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Index entries (71)
- Ammonia, anhydrous and aqueous, manufacturing
- Ammonium phosphates manufacturing
- Fertilizers, mixed, made in plants not manufacturing fertilizer materials
- Compost manufacturing
- Ant poisons manufacturing