Fay-Penn official backs ‘buy local’ plan
Speaking at Fay-Penn Economic Development Council’s quarterly board meeting Friday, Junk reviewed the agency’s “Think Local, Produce Local, Buy Local” initiative, launched in July, that aspires to bring together local business owners, family farmers, commercial developers and consumers to look at ways to expand homegrown, independent businesses and family farms. “It’s OK to be selfish when you are protecting the health and future of your family, your neighbors and your community, while helping other communities at the same time,” Junk said.
Junk, hired by Fay-Penn as the local economy manager to spearhead the push, will focus on five areas in the campaign: increasing local sustainable agriculture, creating local independent business networks, environmental sustainability, alternative energies and energy independence and public policy issues.
“We want to become more self-sustainable through this,” Junk said.
He explained that studies show 80 percent of a dollar spent on local goods stays in the community, while only 30 percent of that same dollar spent at a “big-box store,” remains.
“The average piece of food today travels about 2,000 miles and the average age of the farmer in Fayette County (according to 2002 statistics) is 55 years.
With rapidly rising energy costs, rising health-care costs, growing food costs, currency devaluation, inflation and the expectation that these conditions will continue with no lasting relief in sight, communities are being forced to re-evaluate their food systems, transportation systems, economic systems and the basic way they do business in their local community, Junk said.
Junk reviewed 10 reasons people should buy local.
It can encourage prosperity in the community, keep the community unique, reduce environmental impact, create more jobs, offer investment in the community, gain exceptional taste and freshness in food, support family farms, safeguard family health, put taxes to good use and “buy what you want and not what someone wants you to buy,” he said.
Junk noted there is a supply issue the campaign is dealing with. For example, Junk said he tried to bring farmers in to the Storey Square Summer Concert Series in downtown Uniontown to provide products to local restaurants.
“I couldn’t find a single farmer with leaf lettuce. That is a supply problem that we are going to be working on with local farmers over the next six months,” Junk said.
Mike Krajovic, Fay-Penn president, said local farmers are concentrating on growing feed grains, giving them income of about $200 an acre. That could rise to as much as $5,000 an acre if they began producing vegetables and other crops.
“I have a friend who lives north of Pittsburgh who supplies herbs to restaurants in the city. He gets about $150,000 an acre. There is just so much that local growers could do.”
Junk said the campaign is also looking at renewable energy resources and how best they could be used and applied.
“We are also working on an ag-loan program” that would provide money for farmers to retool to meet local needs, he said.
“We are working with (Fayette County) community action on how the kitchen they have at their Republic incubator can be used to add value to locally produced goods and we are trying to develop new farmer markets and community gardens,” Junk said.
A survey is available online at Fay-Penn’s Web site, www.faypenn.org, for those interested in becoming involved in the campaign. Printed copies of the survey are available at Fay-Penn. The phone number is 724-437-7913.