Why Local Food Matters: The rising importance of locally-grown food in the U.S. food system

Abstract

What do we know about US local food demand? Overview of national statistics Importance of local food demand to food system—national vs. regional Changing buyer and consumer preferences Growth of local food marketing outlets Farmers markets CSAs Food hubs Is there room for future growth in local food demand? If so, what will it look like? USDA 2007 Census of Agriculture: Direct to consumer food sales (defined narrowly as D2C sales of “edible farm products for human consumption) increased threefold from 1992 - 2007 Vegetable, fruit, and nut farms dominate local food sales. Direct-to-consumer sales dominate where climate and topography favor fruit and vegetable production proximity to farmers markets and neighboring local food farms access to transportation information networks. Value of local food sold is highest in metropolitan areas and is geographically concentrated in the Northeast and on the West Coast. $404 million to $1.2 billion • Grew twice as fast as total agricultural sales in U.S. (105% vs. 48%) USDA-ERS report on Direct and Intermediated Local Food Sales (Vogel and Low, 2011) based on 2008 Agricultural Resource Management Survey Local food sales were estimated to be $4.8 billion in 2008 •Included intermediated sales of local food to retailers, restaurants, institutions, food service distributors + direct to consumer sales New 2012 Census of Agricultural statistics on local food to be released in February 2014 – will delineate between local food sales to intermediaries, CSAs, and other direct to consumer outlets What Do We Know About Demand? 4th