The 2014 Locavore Index
April 7, 2014 9:52 AM Subscribe
The 2014 Locavore Index
The third annual Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index is a ranking of the 50 states plus DC in terms of their commitment to local food. It is compiled from data reflecting farmers markets, CSAs and food hubs (all on a a per-capita basis) plus the percentage of each state’s school districts with active Farm-to-School programs. Strolling of the Heifers is a local food advocacy organization based in Vermont.
As it happens, and this is not by design, Vermont ranks first in the Index by a considerable margin over #2 Maine and #3 New Hampshire. Besides doing the research and compiling the index, I'm also the marketing director for Strolling of the Heifers.
One of the points made in the web page about this is that "for all the attention that locavorism has received in recent years, reliable and consistent state-by-state statistics on local food consumption are hard to come by." A little more info has been added each year. (This year it was the Farm-to-School data.) More should be coming out soon in the detailed data from the the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture. But good, consistent data is still quite sparse. More consistency in the definition of "local food" across the states would be useful, too.
The third annual Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index is a ranking of the 50 states plus DC in terms of their commitment to local food. It is compiled from data reflecting farmers markets, CSAs and food hubs (all on a a per-capita basis) plus the percentage of each state’s school districts with active Farm-to-School programs. Strolling of the Heifers is a local food advocacy organization based in Vermont.
As it happens, and this is not by design, Vermont ranks first in the Index by a considerable margin over #2 Maine and #3 New Hampshire. Besides doing the research and compiling the index, I'm also the marketing director for Strolling of the Heifers.
One of the points made in the web page about this is that "for all the attention that locavorism has received in recent years, reliable and consistent state-by-state statistics on local food consumption are hard to come by." A little more info has been added each year. (This year it was the Farm-to-School data.) More should be coming out soon in the detailed data from the the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture. But good, consistent data is still quite sparse. More consistency in the definition of "local food" across the states would be useful, too.
Role: Researcher, compiler
Applause! Thanks for posting this, beagle.
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:59 PM on April 8, 2014
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:59 PM on April 8, 2014
The colors on the states don't match the colorbar. Cool project!
posted by oceanjesse at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2014
(AL and GA for example)
posted by oceanjesse at 1:22 PM on April 9, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 1:22 PM on April 9, 2014
Thanks, oceanjesse — I've asked the designer to fix that. Looks like the shades for groups 37-41 and 42-46 got swapped.
posted by beagle at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is great. As a Californian and the founder of a large food swap group, I know how hard it is to get locally grown food to so many places in California - especially in some of our food deserts. We do have a really active movement of foraging (including Food Forward), food swaps, farmer's markets and CSAs, but at least 3 out of 4 (if not all 4) require some sort of privilege to access.
Thanks for this beagle!
posted by Sophie1 at 11:47 AM on April 17, 2014
Thanks for this beagle!
posted by Sophie1 at 11:47 AM on April 17, 2014
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posted by XMLicious at 2:59 AM on April 8, 2014