Over the years, I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at statistics. Early on, those looks required hours in the library. Today, I can view stats from a huge number of credible sources in minutes. The Internet is a new, highly efficient library for research.
Regarding food-related statistics for Berrien County, MI, here’s a few I’ve found that show very clearly our food losses, and our opportunities:
Berrien County residents spend about $377 Million on food annually. Of this amount, about $94 Million is spent on meats, and by far and away, meat spending here is not from locally produced beef, pork, chicken, and fish. Those industries, though once alive and vibrant are gone. Long gone.
That leaves $282 Million for all other food purchases annually in Berrien County. Of that amount, no more than $45 million could possibly have been produced in Berrien County because $45 Million is roughly the total value of all fruits and vegetables produced here. That leaves a $242 Million market potential, annually.
In other words, if Berrien County, Michigan were truly food sovereign, and if we were committed to eating local food instead of the industrialized stuff (I have a hard time calling it food), then our local (County) economy would enjoy a big shot in the arm, in terms of local spending and then keeping that money in local circulation.
If, as many highly regarded economists suggest, that a dollar first spent locally is likely to be circulated four times within the local economy before it finally leaves, then we’re talking about BIG money (as in a Billion), and one can only imagine what impact that kind of cash would have. Positive impact, no doubt.
But this so-called “multiplier effect” is rarely triggered when local dollars are first spent at a national chain store, because unless one lives and shops at a Walmart in Bentonville, AR for example, those dollars are electronically transferred to the chain’s headquarters. The key to the multiplier effect is therefore local spending, not spending at a national chain.
Anyway, it seems to me a fabulous opportunity exists for Berrien County residents to lift themselves up simply by supporting a local food system. Think about it: Fresher food items, food that tastes like it’s supposed to taste (as in good….); food without the deep carbon footprint of the industrialized stuff, and food that helps build strong local economies and vibrant communities.
So what’s stopping us? In future posts, I intend to at least tell you what I think is stopping us, and what we really need to reverse the trend of diminishing local food availability. Stay tuned….
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