In the June issue of Amber Waves, Timothy Wojan and Dayton Lambert wrote about the findings of a recent USDA Economic Research Service-supported study, which found that “about half of all farm input and equipment expenditures were made locally in 2004.”
The study analyzed the location of the farms, rural or nonrural, and the potential impact on local economics. Although the study found that where the farm was made a big difference, these authors concluded that “roughly half of all farm purchases were made locally.”
Read the entire article at http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/June10/Findings/FarmExpenditures.htm.