By Katherine Lang, Regional Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County
“Buy Local” promotional programs are springing up all over the country and media attention to buying “home-grown” goods is high, but no one knows whether consumer buying patterns are changing, or if local producers are benefiting from growing consumer awareness of the origins of their food.
Photo Jane Desotelle
Keene fly in and shop at Malone
Photo Jane Desotelle
Underwood Herbs, Chateaugay, NY
Now, Cornell extension associations in the North Country are teaming up with area producers and community economic development leaders to gauge how direct marketing, "Buy Local" promotions, and regional branding benefit the agricultural sector in their region. With more than 1400 dairy farms, $300 million in dairy products sales, a thriving maple sector and growing beef industry, New York's North Country is a good location to test the effects of “Buy Local” programs.
Since the late 1990s, efforts to connect farms and consumers directly have been on the increase, through farmers' markets, farm-to-institution sales, farm-to-restaurant programs, and community supported agriculture operations. What this has meant, in terms of economic and non-economic impact at the county and regional levels, though, is not clear. With funding from the Economic Development Administration University Center at Cornell's Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI), CCE educators are effectively measuring the purchasing power of local and regional foods initiatives.
The North Country Regional Foods Initiative has been underway since August 1st with CCE educators in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties, working in collaboration with CaRDI staff. The assessment will include analysis of existing data on agriculture and business patterns by Duncan Hilchey at CaRDI and Todd Schmit of the Department of Applied Economics and Management. Also, extension staff will conduct organizational interviews and business case studies of farm and food processing operations that use a local or regional marketing approach. The collaborative effort has benefited from input on research methods from the Department of Development Sociology, and system-wide support from the CCE Local Foods Working Group and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Pride of NY program.
In addition to the research component, the initiative also includes educational programs, the identification of tools and resources designed to support regional food initiatives and an emphasis on campus-multi-county collaboration. The project team will be documenting this approach to community and economic development through local and regional foods and evaluating it as a model for other regions.