International beverage conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev has purchased 10 formerly independent U.S. craft brewers within the last few years, starting with Goose Island in 2011 and most recently Wicked Weed out of North Carolina this year. The beer giant plans to continue to buy small breweries across the country. Now small and independent craft brewers are fighting back. To shine a light on the inequities in the marketplace, TakeCraftBack.com has launched the #TakeCraftBack campaign, seeking to crowdsource pledges of support to buy Anheuser-Busch — for $213 billion — before ABI can buy up any more craft brewers. Indie craft brewers have a powerful collective voice, and — while the campaign is a humorous rally call to draw attention to a serious issue — they are using it. After all, craft brewers have turned the beer world upside down, evolving the U.S. beer scene into a new and more meaningful place. In the United States, craft beer means more than it ever has before. It means culinary advancement, variety and innovation. And as the beverage of moderation, it means liquid enjoyment that delivers advanced kilned and roasted malt flavors, pleasing hop profiles and yeast-driven goodness unmatched by any other fermented beverage.

Goose Island's India Pale Ale is pictured with Budweiser beer on March 29, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images

Yet craft beer also means entrepreneurs, collaboration and philanthropy. It means economic development and it means … jobs. In 2016, small and independent craft brewers were responsible for more than 456,373 full-time equivalent jobs, with 128,768 jobs at breweries and brewpubs. What does this all mean? It means revitalizing neighborhoods and giving back in exponential ways. Last year craft brewers contributed $67.8 billion to the U.S. economy. The figure is derived from the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves through the three-tier system (breweries, wholesalers and retailers), as well as from all non-beer products, like food and merchandise that brewpub restaurants and brewery taprooms sell. In 2016 the overall U.S. beer market was $107.6 billion in sales, with independent craft brewers representing $23.5 billion. Talk about a small-business contribution to our country! Mind you, these successes are happening amid changing and challenge times.

Last year craft brewers contributed $67.8 billion to the U.S. economy.