New Resource Helps Assess Local Food Benefits

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled a new resource created by USDA and Colorado State University that will help communities and businesses evaluate the economic benefits of investing in local food systems.

Advertisement

“Strong local and regional food systems are helping to revitalize rural and urban communities across the country, and more than 160,000 farmers and ranchers nationwide are tapping into growing consumer demand for locally grown products. With USDA support, this sector is increasing access to healthy foods for local residents and creating opportunity for small businesses that store, process, market, and distribute food,” Vilsack said. “Now community leaders have a toolkit that can help measure job creation and other economic development indicators, which will help make the case for continued investments.”

The Local Food System Toolkit was developed by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to help communities reliably evaluate the economic impact of investing in local and regional food systems. The Local Food System Toolkit provides detailed guidance in seven modules to measure and assess the expected economic impacts of local food investments. Using real-world projects, experiences, and applied research, it provides grounded, credible, and useable assessment methods. The Local Food System Toolkit can be used by policy makers, community leaders, private businesses, or foundations to offer specific estimates that will help them decide whether to invest in initiatives that increase local food activity.

In the last six years, USDA invested more than $800 million in more than 29,100 local and regional food businesses and infrastructure projects.

 

Top Articles
Have a Plan For Climate Change? Why Fruit Growers Need To Act Now

0