USDA: 'Locally Grown' Food A $4.8 Billion Business

We may have seen a downturn in our local economies but our local food economies are continuing to grow.  As posted by The Associated Press, locally grown food is a 4.8 billion dollar business.  We all know the value of keeping our dollar in our communities so go out and support your local farmers by buying at Farmers Markets, CSAs (Community Support Agriculture) and Co-ops. It may be winter in the States but  many farmers have adapted hoop houses and winter harvesting/ storage methods in order to keep their produce in your market. Do a quick internet search for indoor farmers markets in your area, try Local Harvest; and if that produces no results call your city/ town's chamber of commerce for help in finding local farmers and businesses who could use your patronage.

"A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of "local foods," whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That's a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year.

While there's plenty of evidence local food sales have been growing, it has been hard to say by how much because governments, companies, consumers and food markets disagree on what qualifies as local. The USDA report included sales to intermediaries, such as local grocers and restaurants, as well as directly to consumers through farmers markets, roadside stands and the like.

It found that farm sales to people like Anderson have just about doubled in the past two decades, from about $650 million, adjusted for inflation, in the early 1990s to about $1.2 billion these days. The much bigger, $4.8 billion figure came when sales to local restaurants, retailers and regional food distributors were added in."

For the full article, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142294661