PEORIA -- Here's a provocative idea for real economic development in downstate Illinois, courtesy of Ken Meter of Crossroads Resource Center.
Ken Meter’s PowerPoint file is available here.
As you know, agriculture is big in Illinois. Forty percent of the state's farmland is located within the 32-county central Illinois region that Ken Meter studied, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranked counties for sales of farm products are located in central Illinois--Iroquois, McLean, and Livingston.
Central IL farmers and ranchers sell $4.8 billion of food commodities per year. (average figure from 1987-2009)
But they spend 4.3 billion on inputs to raise those commodities.
Thus, there is an average gain of only $464 million per year.
This is the total gain for the 26,537 farms in central IL-- meaning an average of only $16,000 a year per farm.
In 2009 dollars, Central Illinois farmers actually earned $115 million dollars less by selling farm products in 2009 than they earned in 1969.
Meanwhile, on the consumer side, Central IL consumers spend $3.9 billion per year buying food, nearly all of which comes from outside our area.
If you add the amount of food dollars leaving central IL ($3.9 billion) and the farm input dollars leaving central IL ($4.3 billion), there is a gigantic sucking sound of over 8 billion dollars leaving our communities each year because of our current food and farm economy.
Local food production and consumption will create and retain wealth in our communities.
If only 15% of food were purchased from local farmers, it would generate $639 million in new farm income, which would cycle within our communities each year.
Here are some of the local food production and consumption trends revealed in the USDA data that Ken analyzes:
Increasing number of small farms--of Central Illinois’ 26,537 farms, 9,451 (36%) are less than 50 acres
Increasing amount of non commodity farm products (generally fruits, vegetables, meats and eggs) grown – 408 farms worked about 20,000 acres (total) to produce vegetables, which is a 78% increase in the number of farms producing vegetables over 2002
Increasing amount of non-commodity products sold through direct sales by farmers to other members of our community – thus retaining wealth and promoting self-sufficiency. 972 farms sell at least $5.9 million directly to consumers. Compared to 2002, this is a 28% increase in the number of farms selling direct, and a 74% increase in the dollar amount of direct sales.
- 600 farms produce and sell value-added products
- 78% increase in the number of farms raising veggies in central IL, and a 74% increase in direct sales.
- 2,818 farms sold $26 million of food directly to consumers – 41% increase in dollar amount over 2002
The USDA ERS tabulates data for Illinois’ top farm product. Corn, soybeans, and hogs are the top 3 – followed by cattle, ornamentals, dairy, wheat, eggs, and hay. But if “direct sales” were considered a farm product they would slot in at #10, with 26 million, just after hay, and just before apples.
Over 17,000 acres in the region are certified organic, and 8,904 acres under conversion
Woodford County (total population around 30,000, but with a high concentration of organic farms) leads the region in direct sales ($650,000 which was a 78% increase over 2002) AND Woodford was called out by the Robert Wood Johnson study as the 3rd healthiest in IL -- See my analysis of why Woodford is as healthy as the rich collar counties of Chicago here: http://civileats.com/2010/02/25/rural-living-may-be-hazardous-to-your-health/ Could be a model for other counties, and for the state – improving economic and personal and community health all at the same time.
Also SEE: Dave Swenson. “Selected Measures of the Economic Values of Increased Fruit and Vegetable Production and Consumption in the Upper Midwest.” Department of Economics and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, March 2010, p. 16. (http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/research/marketing_files/Midwest_032910.pdf)
-30-
Comments