Comparing Farm Financial Performance Across Local Foods Market Channels

Financial performance benchmarks were estimated on the basis of samples of successful Northeast fruit and vegetable producers classified by primary local foods market channel. Comparisons across farm stores, large urban farmers\u27 markets, and intermediated market channels were conducted for the purpose of identifying key differences in human and financial resource requirements. The benchmarks provide data useful for assisting individual farmers in assessing their performances and new and beginning farmers in identifying appropriate market channels for their businesses. Additionally, the benchmarks provide a rich source of information for use by Extension educators in developing programming around local foods marketing opportunities and business planning

Contemporary concept of the value(s)-added food and agriculture sector and rural development, A

Includes bibliographical references (pages 15-19).The changing structure of agriculture strains the historically close relationship between commodity agriculture and rural development. Meanwhile, growth in consumer interest for differentiated, value-added products has the potential to create community economic development opportunities. However, the evidence regarding the benefit of value-added programs for broader community wealth is mixed. We argue that the mixed findings result, in part, from differences in how “value-added” is defined. Value-added agriculture has been conceptualized in many ways. Taking a US-focused approach, we first review four main concepts: value-added, short food supply chain, values-based supply chain, and civic agriculture. Building on these, we present our definition of a value(s)-added food and agriculture sector, incorporating three features: (1) Consumers make purchases that simultaneously provide utility and enable a price premium; (2) the shared principles among firms and their relational arrangement support the distribution of the value, and thus the premium, across the chain and between owners and employees (the use of “principles” or “values” prompts the “(s)” in our definition); and (3) supply chain actors have a demonstrated commitment to the community. We discuss how this definition contributes to debates in, and has implications for, community economic development policy

Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems: A Report to Congress

This report provides an overview of local and regional food systems across several dimensions. It details the latest economic information on local food producers, consumers, and policy, relying on findings from several national surveys and a synthesis of recent literature to assess the current size of and recent trends in local and regional food systems. Data are presented on producer characteristics, survival rates and growth, and prices. The local food literature on consumer willingness to pay, environmental impacts, food safety regulations, and local economic impacts is synthesized when nationally representative data are unavailable. Finally, this report provides an overview of Federal and selected State and regional policies designed to support local food systems and collaboration among market participants

Economics of local food systems: a toolkit to guide community discussions, assessments and choices, The

As consumers across the Nation express a growing interest in a closer connection to their food producers—whether through access to more localized markets and/or shorter supply chains— cities and regions have begun to regard the expansion of local food marketing activities as a critical component of their economic development strategies. Rising demand for locally produced, source-identified, and differentiated food products has generated a plethora of new and spinoff businesses in many communities, which aim to increase the range of and accessibility to local food items for both retail and wholesale customers. In turn, this emergence of local food businesses has sparked a groundswell of financial support and interest from private foundations and public agencies on the assumption that the development of local food systems contributes to positive economic outcomes, especially with respect to local economic development and improved farm viability. Unfortunately, given the nascent nature of local food demand growth and the scarcity of available data, relatively few of these efforts have been guided by rigorous assessments. In response, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has formed new initiatives and programs to develop new markets and support existing markets so that producers and their communities may leverage these new opportunities. Specifically, the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has managed the Farmers Market Promotion Program (now expanded to the Local Foods Promotion Program), with great expectations of positive outcomes, but no standardized approach on how to evaluate market and economic outcomes. As a result, a team of regional economists and food system specialists were assembled through a project hosted by Colorado State University (CSU) to develop a Toolkit comprised of food system assessment principles and economic indicators a community may expect to share. Given the real-world projects, experiences, and applied research of the CSU-led team, the Toolkit is grounded in practices that are credible and useable within the economic development discussions guiding communities. The goal of this Toolkit is to guide and enhance the capacity of local organizations to make more deliberate and credible measurements of local and regional economic activity and other ancillary benefits

'Better Butter' Opportunities for Local Food and Entrepreneurship

Kriemhild Dairy Farms, started in New York by Bruce and Nancy Rivington in 2010, has expanded rapidly in response to changing market conditions spurred by growing demand for ‘local’ and ‘pasture-raised’ products. Kriemhild’s entrepreneurial strategy for producing and marketing its pasture-raised butter takes advantage of the company’s ability to leverage alternative (local food system) and conventional resources and infrastructure. The Kriemhild example highlights the importance of: 1) the farm’s scale of operation; 2) the existence of local processing, warehousing, and distribution infrastructure; and 3) the ability to navigate between and capitalize on conventional and ‘alternative’ supply chains

Farm Impacts of Farm-to-Grocer Sales: The Case of Hawai’i

There are scant studies that examine farm-retailer dynamics, despite growing interest in local food markets and the fact that most local food is sold to intermediaries (like retailers). To address this gap we conducted a case study in Hawai’i, the state with the highest percentage of farms selling direct to retail in the United States. Results show a statistically significant relationship between the number of farms from which a grocery store purchases product and the grocery store’s average markup for food products, rather than with the store’s gross sales as one might expect

Federal Policy, Administration, and Local Food Coming of Age

This article reviews the federal legislative and administrative maturation of local food. By focusing on the Farm Bill and the Know Your Farmer Know Your Food program—one way in which the USDA carries out its legislative mandates—we can assess where local foods will be in the future

State Branding Programs and Local Food Purchases

State branding programs provide promotional support for local and regional foods markets across the United States. We discuss the results of a survey examining the effect of the Colorado Proud program and label on purchases and how the role of labels may impact purchases of local products directly from producers