Local foods and economic development

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Increasingly, economic developers in rural communities are recognizing the value of local foods -- value aded agricuture -- in improving their economic prospects. Here's a remarkable statistic from market research in the Twin Cities of Minnesota: 95 percent of shoppers surveyed prefer to buy local foods. Read more.

Strengthening the connections between farmers and consumers in a regional economy increases the velocity of money circulating in an economy and reduces the leakage of income out of the economy.

Iowa and Minnesota are leading states in this movement. You can download a brochure on the steps you can take can do to promote local foods. Written for extension educators, the advice works for EDPros as well.

In Minnesota, U.S. Rep Collin Peterson has been promoting local foods in workshops.

Promoting food as an opportunity is catching on with a number of regions. Here are a couple more articles from last week.
Food for thought and Much more than a farm market
Rutgers Food Innovation Center feted

posted by Ed Morrison |

Subscribe with Bloglines






Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
links
Google
The Web EDPro Weblog