June 2015 — Over the past four years, NC State Horticulture Science PhD student Drew Marticorena has been studying the “Local Multiplier Effect”, the economic ripple effect that occurs within a community when consumers spend their money at independent, locally-owned businesses. While there are databases that contain standard multipliers used by economic developers across that nation, there are strong reasons to believe they are not accurate for the “local food” economy.
NC Growing Together works with small and mid-scale agricultural businesses, linking them together and into larger supply chains. One benefit of having independent, small and mid-scale businesses in a community is that revenue from consumer purchases recirculates in the area, supporting local wealth and jobs. Drew has been researching whether farms and agriculture-related businesses that buy their inputs and sell their products locally create a larger multiplier effect than those businesses that do not.
Drew will present his results at an upcoming seminar on June 18 at 8 am in Kilgore Hall, room 121, on the NC State campus. This part of Drew’s research has been partially funded by the NCGT project. All are invited to attend!
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2015 NC Growing Together Newsletter.