Rediscover the place for local food.

Small changes can bring modest improvements in a regional economy, at least when it comes to local foods.

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2009/092909_seiowa.html

9-29-09

LEOPOLD CENTER STUDY: LOCAL FOODS COULD BRING JOBS TO SOUTHEAST IOWA

AMES, Iowa -- Small changes can bring modest improvements in a regional economy, at least when it comes to local foods. That’s what the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture found in a new economic analysis conducted for six counties in southeast Iowa.

ISU economist David Swenson worked with Hometown Harvest, a local food group in southeast Iowa to examine several scenarios for increased local food production, processing and consumption in Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Van Buren and Wapello counties. His analysis, funded by a competitive grant from the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative, showed that the region could benefit from the addition of 50 to 75 production, retailing and enhanced processing jobs divided between rural areas and local communities.

His report, “Investigating the Potential Economic Impacts of Local Foods for Southeast Iowa,” is available on the Leopold Center Web site at: www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/seiowa.html

“A relatively small amount of land generates enough produce to feed a large number of people,” Swenson explained. “In this case, 528 acres of production would yield 25 percent of 22 fresh fruits and vegetables consumed annually for 100,000 people in the region... [yet] the scenarios produce net farm and regional income gains of almost $1 million.”

The scenarios included seasonal consumption of eight selected fruits and vegetables as well as a list of 22 produce items that can be grown in the region. Other scenarios considered the economic impacts of additional capacity at small meat lockers to process locally produced lamb, goat and chickens, and production of 25 percent of the eggs consumed in the region.

“This analysis provides another piece in the puzzle to explain the potential role local food plays as an economic development strategy for Iowa communities” says Leopold Center Associate Director Rich Pirog.

"It seems intuitive that a strong local food system can build a strong local economy,” says Detra Dettmann, Coordinator for Pathfinders RC&D which helped start the Hometown Harvest local food initiative. “This study helps quantify the benefit our region could realize from increased local production.”

Other key findings from the report include:

• For fruit and vegetable production, the eight-item scenario would add 5.3 jobs and $215,350 in labor income to the regional economy after considering reductions to soybean and corn acres. For the 22-item scenario, the impacts would be 11.6 jobs with $475,870 in total labor incomes.
• For direct sales of 50 percent of the locally produced fruits and vegetables, regional jobs would grow by 17.7 and labor incomes by 239,345. For the 22-item list of products, regional jobs would increase by 37.8 and incomes by $510,733.
• Were the region to supply 25 percent of the chicken and eggs that regional consumers purchase for in-home consumption, the retail value would be $1.88 million.
• If the region were to add small meat slaughtering and processing capacities to accommodate an increase in locally produced lamb, goat and poultry consumption, each locker plant would add 5.1 jobs to the region, as well as $178,937 in labor incomes.
• The boosts in incomes associated with local foods production impact growers and retailers as well as companies in the region that supply goods and services to those producers.

Both Swenson and Pirog said the report does not address many technical aspects of local food production such as consumer sentiment, local policies, and being able to gauge the risks and constraints to production. Other local food economic impact studies can be found on the Leopold Center’s Web site at: www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/economic.html.

Hometown Harvest works with farmers, communities, and businesses to rediscover the place for local food in southeast Iowa. This includes developing programs and opportunities for farmers to expand their businesses, farm-to-institution project development, and public relations campaigning.

OCA on New Food Safety Bill-HR 2749

There's been a lot of buzz on the web about the new Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR-2749). Many of our supporters have called or emailed us to find our stance on the issue. Although the Organic Consumers Association is fairly satisfied that the bill is intended to protect organic farmers from being negatively impacted by new food safety regulations, the bill does not address the underlying causes of America's persistent and evermore serious food safety crisis: factory farms and chemical-intensive agriculture.

When addressing the concerns of E.coli or salmonella, the bill focuses on fresh vegetables and fruits rather than CAFOs or intensive confinement factory farms, in effect treating the symptom and not the disease. A close look at the nation's food poisoning epidemics over the past decade reveal that the overwhelming majority of fruit and vegetable contamination incidents are a direct result of water and soil pollution from large factory farms. The OCA believes that HR-2749 should be amended to address factory farming:

1) Animals should never be fed blood, manure or slaughterhouse waste.

2) Cows need to eat grass.

3) Animals need to be spread out on enough land to absorb their waste.

4) CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) pose unacceptable risks to human health such as antibiotic resistance, incubate dangerous viruses and pathogens such as the Swine Flu and Bird Flu, contaminate the environment, institutionalize animal cruelty, and need to be phased out and shut down.

Reprinted with Permission from The Organic Consumers Association

http://www.organicconsumers.org/