The credit for this article goes to none other than Alan Nation of the Stockman Grass farmer. You can read more of Alan's articles here.
Illinois Passes Law To Stimulate Local Food
Monday, 12 October 2009
Illinois has a new law that it hopes will start building the infrastructure for a new regional food system. The new allows buyers for state agencies, including schools, to pay up to 10% above the lowest bid when purchasing locally grown foods. It also sets a goal for state-owned agencies to increase their purchase of locally-grown foods to 20% by 2020. The law is designed to increase the demand side of local food producing by providing large institutional buyers. Illinois has 76,000 farmers but currently purchases only four percent of its food locally. Ken Meter, an agricultural writer for Grist said that if consumers in the Midwest would buy just 15% of their foodstuffs locally it would generate as much farm income as two-thirds of what farm subsidies currently do. The USDA has announced that it plans to reserve hundreds of millions of dollars in existing USDA grants, loans and loan guarantees for improving local food infrastructure
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