Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T09:49:53.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of local agricultural production on farm to school expenditures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2017

Jeffrey K. O'Hara  and
Matthew C. Benson
Jeffrey K. O'Hara*
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Washington, DC 20250-0269, USA
Matthew C. Benson
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Alexandria, VA 22302, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Jeffrey K. O'Hara, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The implementation of farm to school programs and the use of local foods in US school meals have increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, supply constraints are often cited by school districts as an impediment to purchasing local foods. In this paper, we estimate the responsiveness of local food sourcing by schools in response to changes in local agricultural production. We test several hypotheses by merging data from the nationally administered 2015 Farm to School Census, which solicits information about local food sourcing from school districts, with Census of Agriculture data and other socio-economic data. We test whether local agricultural conditions influence the probability that a school district sources local foods, as well as the level of such purchases among the subset of school districts that are buying locally. We examine two types of local food purchases: local fluid milk purchases, which is the predominate food product that is locally sourced by schools, and local non-milk food purchases. We test the extent to which local purchases are influenced by local dairy production in the former case and local direct-to-consumer (DTC) agricultural production in the latter case. We find that the dairy and DTC agricultural production had a positive, although modest, impact on local milk and local non-milk purchases, respectively.

We find that county-level average income and the percentage of residents in poverty, when statistically significant, had positive and negative, respectively, impacts on local sourcing. Interpreting the coefficients on some of our other control variables involves greater nuance. For instance, while the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals decreases the predicted probability of a school making local non-milk purchases, it has a positive impact on the level of expenditures. We also find that the number of students in a school district has a positive impact on local food expenditures. However, while county-level population has a positive impact on local food expenditures, it has a negative impact on the predicted probability that a school district sources local non-milk products.

Keywords

Direct-to-consumer farm salesfarm to schoollocal foodschool meals
Type
Themed Content: Intermediated Marketing Channels in Regional Food Systems
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 34 , Special Issue 3: Themed Content: Intermediated Marketing Channels in Regional Food Systems , June 2019 , pp. 216 - 225
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahearn, M and Sterns, J (2013) Direct-to-consumer sales of farm products: producers and supply chains in the southeast. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 45(3), 497–508.Google Scholar
Benson, M (2014) Exploring extension involvement in farm to school program activities. Journal of Extension 52(4), Article #4FEA4. Available at https://www.joe.org/joe/2014august/a4.php (Accessed 26 October 2017).Google Scholar
Botkins, ER and Roe, B (2015) Understanding Participation in the USDA's Farm to School Program: Results Integrating Information From the Farm to School Census and the Census of Agriculture. Selected paper prepared for presentation at the 2015 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Brown, J, Goetz, S, Ahearn, M and Liang, K (2014) Linkages between community focused agriculture, farm sales, and regional growth. Economic Development Quarterly 28, 5–16.Google Scholar
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (2015) Regional Economic Accounts. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, BEA. Available at http://bea.gov/regional/index.htm (Accessed 11 July 2016).Google Scholar
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (2016). Consumer Price Index, all Urban Consumers, all Items, 1982–84=100, U.S. City Average, not Seasonally Adjusted, Annual Average. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, BLS. Available at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?cu (Accessed 11 July 2016).Google Scholar
Census Bureau (2015 a) Centers of Population. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. Available at http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/centersofpop.html (Accessed 11 July 2016).Google Scholar
Census Bureau (2015 b) Download 2010 zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) Relationship Files. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. Available at https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/zcta_rel_download.html (Accessed 31 August 2016).Google Scholar
Conner, DS, Izumi, BT, Liquori, T and Hamm, MW (2012) Sustainable school food procurement in large K-12 districts: prospects for value chain partnerships. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 41(1), 100–113.Google Scholar
Detre, JD, Mark, TB, Mishra, AK and Adhikari, A (2011) Linkage between direct marketing and farm income: a double-hurdle approach. Agribusiness 27, 19–33.Google Scholar
Dimitri, C, Hanson, JC and Oberholtzer, L (2012) Local food in Maryland schools: a real possibility or a wishful dream? Journal of Food Distribution Research 43(2), 112–128.Google Scholar
Feenstra, GW, Lewis, CC, Hinrichs, CC, Gillespie, GW and Hilchey, D (2003) Entrepreneurial outcomes and enterprise size in US retail farmers’ markets. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 18(1), 46–55.Google Scholar
Joshi, A, Henderson, T, Ratcliffe, MM and Feenstra, G (2014) Evaluation for Transformation: A Cross-Sectoral Evaluation Framework for Farm to School. Chicago, IL: National Farm to School Network.Google Scholar
Low, SA and Vogel, S (2011) Direct and Intermediated Marketing of Local Foods in the United States. Economic Research Report number 128, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Low, SA, Adalja, A, Beaulieu, E, Key, N, Martinez, S, Melton, A, Perez, A, Ralston, K, Stewart, H, Suttles, S, Vogel, S and Jablonski, BBR (2015) Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems: A Report to Congress. Administrative Publication No. 068, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.Google Scholar
Lusk, JL and Norwood, FB (2011) The Locavore's dilemma: Why pineapples shouldn't be grown in North Dakota. Available at http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2011/LuskNorwoodlocavore.html (Accessed 7 February 2017).Google Scholar
Lyson, HC (2016) National policy and state dynamics: a state-level analysis of the factors influencing the prevalence of farm to school programs in the United States. Food Policy 63, 23–35.Google Scholar
MacDonald, JM, O'Donoghue, EJ, McBride, WD, Nehring, RF, Sandretto, CL and Mosheim, R (2007) Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming. Economic Research Report Number 47, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.Google Scholar
National Farm to School Network (NFSN) (2016) Growth of farm to school in the U.S. (1997–2014). Available at http://www.farmtoschool.org/resources-main/growth-of-farm-to-school-in-the-u-s-1997-2014-graphic (Accessed 13 July 2016).Google Scholar
National Farm to School Network and Vermont Law School Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) State farm to school legislative survey 2002–2014. Available at http://www.farmtoschool.org/Resources/F2S-Survey-2014.pdf (Accessed 8 February 2017).Google Scholar
O'Hara, JK and Low, SA (2016) The influence of metropolitan statistical areas on direct-to-consumer agricultural sales of local food in the Northeast. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 45(3), 539–562.Google Scholar
Park, T, Mishra, AK and Wozniak, SJ (2014) Do farm operators benefit from direct to consumer marketing strategies? Agricultural Economics 45, 213–224.Google Scholar
Ragland, E and Tropp, D (2009) USDA National Farmers Market Manager Survey, 2006. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service.Google Scholar
Ralston, K, Beaulieu, E, Hyman, J, Benson, M and Smith, MD (2017) Daily Access to Local Foods for School Meals: Key Drivers. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.Google Scholar
Smith, BJ II, Kaiser, HM and Gomez, MI (2013) Identifying factors influencing a hospital's decision to adopt a farm-to-hospital program. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 42(3), 508–517.Google Scholar
Uematsu, H and Mishra, AK (2011) Use of direct marketing strategies by farmers and their impact on farm business income. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 40, 1–19.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2014) Census of Agriculture. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Available at http://agcensus.usda.gov/index.php (Accessed 11 July 2016).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) (2017) Local food compass map. Available at https://www.ams.usda.gov/local-food-sector/compass-map (Accessed 17 July 2017).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) (2016 a) The 2015 farm to school census. Available at https://farmtoschoolcensus.fns.usda.gov/ (Accessed 13 July 2016).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) (2016 b) Child nutrition tables. Available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/child-nutrition-tables (Accessed 9 December 2016).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) (2016 c) Community food systems. Available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/usda-farm-school-staff (Accessed 12 July 2016).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) (2016 d) USDA farm to school program: fy 2013–fy 2016 summary of grant awards. Available at https://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/grant-awards (Accessed 14 September 2017).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS) (2016) 2015 local food marketing practices survey. Available at https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Local_Food/index.php (Accessed 12 January 2017).Google Scholar
Vo, A and Holcomb, RB (2011) Impacts of school district characteristics on farm-to-school program participation: the case for Oklahoma. Journal of Food Distribution Research 42(3), 43–59.Google Scholar
Wooldridge, JM (2002) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar