Polk is the top citrus county in the United States and ranks second among Florida's counties in market value of agricultural products sold. Citrus is the most important crop in terms of employment, dollar return to the grower and impact on the general economy. In the 1997-98 growing season, Polk produced 40 million boxes of fruit.
Beef cattle breeding herds graze more than half a million acres in Polk County.
Phosphate is one of the three vital ingredients in all commercial fertilizer. Many of the area's manufacturing and service industries exist because of the multi-billion dollar phosphate industry. Phosphate is Florida's largest export. The industry owns or has mineral rights to 530,253 acres of Florida land. Reclaimed phosphate land is a newly emerging agricultural resource for Polk County.