If Oklahoma residents spent just 5 percent of their food budgets on local food, the effect on the state’s agricultural economy would be dramatic. Individual farmers could see their revenue increase anywhere from a few hundred dollars per year to as much as $41,564 per year.
That’s according to a report from The Kerr Center called Closer to Home: Healthier Food, Farms and Families in Oklahoma. The report analyzes grocery spending in 17 counties in five regions of the state and compares it to average net farm income in the same counties and regions. The report considers the effect of 5 percent of the grocery spending if the amount were divided among all the farms in the county. In Oklahoma County, for example, there’s more than $1 billion in grocery spending per year. Five percent of that is $52 million. Divided among the farms in the county, that amount would increase farm revenue $41,564.
Most farmers stood to gain far less from a theoretical increase in direct sales to 5% of grocery purchases. But the number crunching provides an interesting way of looking at the effect of getting consumers to buy local.
(www.kerrcenter.com)