Thursday’s Buttonhole Breakfast at the Central Alabama Farmer’s Co-Op hopefully opened some eyes about the large role agriculture plays in Dallas County.

Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries John McMillan was the guest speaker and discussed an Alabama Agribusiness Council study that showed agriculture, forestry and related industries have a $2 billion economic impact and create 12,077 jobs in Dallas County.

That’s a fact that shouldn’t go unnoticed by the rest of us.

It’s no secret that agriculture is big for our county, but the numbers McMillan discussed Thursday are fairly substantial.

Dallas County ranks second in the state in catfish production.

Greenhouse, nursery, floriculture and cattle also rank high on the commodities list.

The state celebrates Farm-City Week Nov. 21-27 as a way to educate children and adults about the contributions farmers make on our society.

All of those industries bring in tax dollars for our county, which is money that we dearly need. And although it isn’t always the most talked about, it’s hard to imagine where this county would be without all of the farmers that work the fields, raising crops and shipping them off to markets all over the place.