The 25% Shift

The Benefits of Food Localization for Northeast Ohio & How to Realize Them

This is a really great document for anyone interested in local food initiatives. It gives a detailed account of the Cleveland (USA) experience and success as well as offering plenty of advice on how others can emulate their success.

It also has some very interesting estimations as to the economic, social and environmental impact of the localisation of their food system.

The following is the beginning of the executive summary:

The local food revolution has come to Cleveland—big time. The city now has so many community gardens, farmers markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions, urban farms, celebrity chefs, and local-food procurement programs that the environmental web site, SustainLane, recently ranked Cleveland as the second best local-food city in the United States. But the region has only just begun to tap the myriad benefits of local food.

The following study analyzes the impact of the 16-county Northeast Ohio (NEO) region moving a quarter of the way toward fully meeting local demand for food with local production. It suggests that this 25% shift could create 27,664 new jobs, providing work for about one in eight unemployed residents. It could increase annual regional output by $4.2 billion and expand state and local tax collections by $126 million. It could increase the food security of hundreds of thousands of people and reduce near-epidemic levels of obesity and Type-II diabetes. And it could significantly improve air and water quality, lower the region’s carbon footprint, attract tourists, boost local entrepreneurship, and enhance civic pride.

The complete document can be accessed here