Buy Local Programme - Vermont, USA

The campaign is based on this premise: "If Vermonters shifted just 10% of their food purchases to locally grown food products, that would add more than $100 million to Vermont's economy." On one level, this message is intended to mobilise citizens to take action by purchasing locally grown agricultural products at stores, farmer's markets, farmstands, and restaurants. However, this message also gives citizens a specific target to aim for (a campaign slogan is "the 10% difference") and shows them how much of an impact their choice to buy locally grown and produced agricultural products can have on the local economy.

The Internet is one strategy used to make these choices easier. On the Buy Local Programme site, citizens can access a listing of vendors who manufacture or sell Vermont agricultural products online. The listing includes individual farm vendors, commodity associations (including vendors who do not have websites), and retail outlets that sell Vermont agricultural products. This site also includes links to online recipe sites that give consumers ideas about how to cook with the vegtables, berries, maple syrup, dairy products, or other goods they have purchased. A Monthly Vermont Harvest e-newsletter also shares this kind of information with consumers.

Radio ads, one of which features two Vermont men having a conversation about globalisation, are meant to appeal to the public's desire to "know where their food comes from". These ads, as well as the television spots, are designed to make consumers aware of how integral agriculture is to the culture and character of Vermont. Retailers of Vermont products are encouraged to support the effort by obtaining price cards and large posters bearing the campaign message.

Agriculture, Globalisation, Economic Development.

These statistics highlight the importance of agriculture to the Vermont economy:

• There are approximately 300,000 cattle and calves in Vermont and about 608,000 people. There was a time, however, when there were nearly more sheep than people in the state.
• In 2002, agriculture was worth $556 million to the Vermont economy in total cash receipts.
• There are around 6,700 total farms in Vermont. 1.34 million acres is devoted to agricultural use in Vermont.

Throughout 2002, the Vermont Agricultural Viability Council (VAVC) met to discuss what was needed to keep agriculture viable in Vermont. This programme grew out of those discussions. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets' Agricultural Development Division is committing nearly 70% of its available discretionary resources to this effort in 2004, and hopes to leverage more money from other resources to aid the effort.