![](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4130\/4840336559_0b7af6c892_o.jpg\")
<\/a>\nThe UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has\nquantified the economic effects of eating local food in Georgia,\nin this report:\n<\/a>\nThe UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has\nquantified the economic effects of eating local food in Georgia,\nin this report:\n\nThe Local Food Impact: What if Georgians Ate Georgia Produce?<\/a>\nPrepared by: Sharon P. Kane, Kent Wolfe, Marcia Jones, and John McKissick Center Report: CR-10-03 May 2010\n\nIf Georgians produced all of the fruits and vegetables that they consumed,\nit could provide a way to close this utilization gap (the difference\nbetween state-wide production and consumption) of over $780 million\nper year. Even if this level can’t be achieved, simply closing the gap\nin one commodity\u00adlettuce, for example\u00adcould mean an additional $83.6\nmillion of direct revenue to local producers.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nWhat is the lettuce gap?\nThe\n\nCordele Dispatch explains it:<\/a>\n\n\n
\nThey found, for example, the average Georgian eats about 30 pounds of fresh lettuce per year, or about 285 million pounds state-wide.\n\nYet the state produces less than 245,000 pounds per year, which is less than one-tenth of one percent of the amount of lettuce that Georgians consume. Closing that gap would generate an additional $83.6 million in lettuce sales.\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nAnd that’s not the only gap:\n
\n\n<\/a>\nSimilarly, there are major gaps for other produce, including a $228 million gap for apples, a $62 million gap for bell peppers, a $46 million gap for a broccoli, a $12.8 million gap for carrots, …, a $235 million gap for tomatoes….\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nHow to close those gaps?\n\nHere’s one way:<\/a>\n
\n\n<\/a>\nIf Georgia vegetable, melon, fruit, and nut farms increased their direct-to-consumer sales per farm to the same average dollar value per farm as reported nationally, the result would be an increase from $7 million in direct sales to over $13 million. This increase of direct sales, when including linkages throughout the economy, would contribute 232 jobs, $7.4 million in labor income, $10.7 million in value added, and $23.6 million in output to the Georgia economy.\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nWhat are direct-to-consumer sales?\n
\n….methods such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmer’s markets, roadside stands, or pickyour-own.\n<\/blockquote>\nTasty, too.\nI thought I didn’t like strawberries until I tried some from the you-pick-’em\non Bemiss Road near Moody AFB.\n\nSuch sales work even for foods that Georgia produces more than it consumes,\nsuch as blueberries, lima beans, onions, pecans, and watermelons.\nFarmers get more profit by selling directly.\n
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<\/a>\nGeorgia will always have a gap for some foods,\njust as it will always have a surplus for some foods.\nFew states can grow as many pecans as Georgia,\nand Vidalia onions are branded like Champagne,\nso that they’re not real unless they’re grown\nin certain counties of Georgia.\nGeorgia may never grow as many apples as Georgians eat,\nand is unlikely to become a big producer of cranberries.\nBut surely we can close the gap in okra, peaches, and pumpkins!\n
\nHow much less do Georgia farmers do direct sales\n\nthan other states?<\/a>\n
\nAccording to the 2007 Agricultural Census, Georgia\u2019s direct sales accounted for 0.18 percent of their total sales. Rhode Island sold 9.5 percent of its agricultural products directly to consumers and Massachusetts sold 8.5 percent through direct sales.\n<\/blockquote>\nThat looks like a potential for up to fifty times improvement.\n\nDirect-to-consumer sales could help reverse a long-term trend, visible in recent numbers:\n
\nThe most recent Agricultural Census (2007) identified nearly 48,000 farms in Georgia, a decrease of 3% from 2005. In contrast, the total dollar value of the agricultural products sold on Georgia farms increased 45% over the same period.\n<\/blockquote>\nSmall farms continue to fold, leaving subdivisions and big farms.\nThe more small farms can sell directly, the more profit they retain,\nand the more profitable they are, and the more likely to stay in business.\n\n
\nFrom a broader perspective, if each of the approximately 3.7 million households in the State devoted $10 per week of their total food dollars to purchasing Georgia grown products\u00adfrom any source, not just directly from producers\u00adit could provide over $1.9 billion food dollars reinvested back into the state. This simulation allows an exploration of what a relatively small change in consumer behavior and budget can mean to the state’s economy as a whole.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nThat large goal requires also adding farm sales to restaurants and\nto supermarkets.\n
\n(Sharma and Strohbehn 2006) looked at another method of direct sales that may not be as frequently considered: restaurants or other foodservice outlets. Their analysis considered not only the costs to restaurants of buying local, but whether patrons would be willing to purchase local menu items at a slight price premium. Their findings suggest that they would be willing, and that producers can help foodservice operations promote the use of local food ingredients. Chefs of small gourmet, independently-owned restaurants are more likely to purchase local foods, with the largest obstacle to these purchases being a lack of information (Curtis and Cowee 2009).\n\n<\/a>\nKnowing that information is critical in marketing to consumers or to foodservice outlets, the CAED interactive website known as MarketMaker (\nwww.marketmaker.uga.edu<\/a>) and the Georgia Organics Directory (\nwww.georgiaorganics.org<\/a>) are two resources that can help to overcome informational hurdles in selling or purchasing local food products.\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nSales from farms to supermarkets will always result in less profit to the farmer,\nbut can still be useful for large quantities.\nThe cost to the consumer does not have to be higher,\ngiven that local food cuts out a lot of shipping costs.\nEven if it is a bit higher, people may be willing to pay, because of:\n
\nthe rise in consumer concerns about food safety and the source and freshness of food….\n<\/blockquote>\nHere’s where more precise food labelling would be very useful:\nbeyond country of origin to county of origin.\n\nPromoting local food can make a big difference to the state at large.\nRemember that farming is one of Georgia’s biggest industries:\n
\nGeorgia’s Farm Gate Value Report for 2007 reported a direct farm gate value of $11.6 billion for food and fiber production, which resulted in a total economic impact to the state of over $58 billion.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nAnd it’s less known that Georgia produces more diverse food crops than\nperhaps any other state:\n
\nThis impact comes from a diverse array of commodities, of which vegetables, fruits, and nuts comprise approximately $1.1 billion of direct farm gate value, $2.85 billion in overall economic impact, and accounted for more than 25,000 jobs in 2007.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nGeorgia can close the gaps between production and consumption for\na wide array of foods, adding another couple of billion to Georgia’s economy.\nAnd remember, local food isn’t just about money.\nIt’s\n\neven more about<\/a>\nproviding people tastier food,\nsupporting a diverse local economy including local farms,\nand improving our health.\n
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\nGeorgia Organics\n\nis working to help:<\/a>\n
\n\n<\/a>\n\u201cThese findings are some of the strongest demonstrations so far of what a small change in consumer behavior could mean for farmers, and for the entire state,\u201d says Georgia Organics Executive Director Alice Rolls.\n
\n\u201cMore than that, I hope this study gets leaders state-wide asking why we don\u2019t see every day foods for our Southern diets growing in the fields of Georgia.\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\n