How Buying Local Can Pull States (and the Country) out of Debt
by Greg Plotkin
food.change.org
If you could boost your state's economy just by purchasing local apples instead of those grown across the county, would you pony up the extra cash?
While it seems unlikely that small changes in food purchasing decisions can result in a full-scale reversal of a state's economic condition, a new study shows just how important local food dollars are (or can be) to a state's economy.
The University of Georgia's Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development recently published a study finding that state residents could significantly increase Georgia's tax revenue by spending just a little more on local food each year. Specifically, if each of the state's 1.7 million households spent just $10 more annually on locally produced farm products, Georgia would collect an additional $1.9 billion in funds, enough to cover the entire $1.7 billion budget shortfall predicted for the state in 2012.
Currently, many of the nation's leading food-producing states are dead broke. For example, both Illinois and New York are facing multi-billion dollar budget deficits in 2012, yet they rank as two of the top-producing farm states in the country. If residents of these states decided to purchase just a small amount of their food locally, they might be able to avoid difficult budget decisions like having to slash funding for programs that protect farmland in order to keep state parks open (as happened in New York this spring).
(More here.)
food.change.org
If you could boost your state's economy just by purchasing local apples instead of those grown across the county, would you pony up the extra cash?
While it seems unlikely that small changes in food purchasing decisions can result in a full-scale reversal of a state's economic condition, a new study shows just how important local food dollars are (or can be) to a state's economy.
The University of Georgia's Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development recently published a study finding that state residents could significantly increase Georgia's tax revenue by spending just a little more on local food each year. Specifically, if each of the state's 1.7 million households spent just $10 more annually on locally produced farm products, Georgia would collect an additional $1.9 billion in funds, enough to cover the entire $1.7 billion budget shortfall predicted for the state in 2012.
Currently, many of the nation's leading food-producing states are dead broke. For example, both Illinois and New York are facing multi-billion dollar budget deficits in 2012, yet they rank as two of the top-producing farm states in the country. If residents of these states decided to purchase just a small amount of their food locally, they might be able to avoid difficult budget decisions like having to slash funding for programs that protect farmland in order to keep state parks open (as happened in New York this spring).
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
How do you know if it’s really local ?
We bought a portion of an old apple orchard to build our home while the owner leased the rest of the orchard to a local grower. In chatting with the local grower, I asked him where else he rented land for his apple sales … he looked a little sheepish in response … telling me that most of his apples are shipped in from Texas and that the people that come to his stand don’t know.
As I drive by corn fields (such as Birds Eye fields which produce eatable corn as opposed to many of the fields that just produce it for feed) noticing that their crops are not ready for picking, yet I will see “trucks” on Madison Avenue selling corn … just makes me wonder.
That said, did you see the HyVee flyer this week promoting homegrown products … indicating produce from Atwater and Stewart Minnesota, plus many Iowa producers.
STORY : Hy-Vee is always looking for high quality local grown produce. Tied to this it needs to be fair priced with dependable delivery times. But first and foremost, high quality.
Hy-Vee is different than most chain stores. Each Store Director and Produce Manager has the autonomy to purchase local grown produce independent from each other store. Not only are relationships built between the grower and Produce Manager, but it brings the grower closer to the customer.
For example, Marcks Brothers of St. Ansgar, Iowa supplies cabbage; Vine Valley Farms in Stewart MN supplies a variety of vegetables including cukes,
squashes, zucchini … as does Cherry Lake Farms in Atwater Minnesota.
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