ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF FARM-TO-SCHOOL FOOD PURCHASING INCENTIVES: THE CASE OF THE BUFFALO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Abstract

Farm-to-school and local food system strengthening projects have been widely supported by policy makers with funding provided at both the federal and state levels. Still, many of the outcomes of this inflow of policy and funding remain unclear and the economic impacts of such initiatives remain inadequately researched. In 2018, New York State (NYS) announced an increase to lunch reimbursement of $0.19 cents per meal (to a total of $0.25 per meal) if districts purchase at least 30% of their ingredients for their lunch program from New York farms through a policy called the 30% NY Initiative. With detailed school food purchasing data from the Buffalo City School District, one of the largest districts in NYS and the largest to qualify for the Initiative, we analyze the economic impacts of this increased local spending on the NYS economy through a customized input-output model for NYS. Results shows net positive economic impacts of the policy, even when a negative household impact is applied to account for the cost of the initiative to taxpayers. The results reveal changes in spending patterns over the school years, evaluate impacts by type of spending (i.e., entitlement versus budget spending) and by product category, and provide a detailed distribution of impacts across industries.