Common Measures for Local Foods

DRAFT 12.08.2014
These common measures were developed for evaluating the impact of Extension programming with specific reference to farmers markets and community gardens.

1. Number of jobs created/expanded/retained (farms, market gardens, and food businesses).
2. Amount of increased revenue, increased savings, and/or one-time capital purchases through Extension technical assistance and education.
1. Dollar value of public return on investment.
2. Dollar value of volunteer hours.
3. Dollar value of grants and dollars leveraged.
4. Dollar value of in-kind contributions.
3. Number of collaborators (agencies, external partners, community organizations).
4. Increased accessibility of local foods.
1. Number of community gardens and retail value of pounds of food produced through community gardens.
2. Number of local food outlets.
3. Dollar value of food donated to local food banks.
4. Money spent on fruits and vegetables from local sources.
5. Reduction in health care costs through healthy lifestyles.
1. Number of food handlers adopting safer or less risky practices related to food safety.
2. Number of participants that increased consumption of locally grown fruits.
3. Number of participants that increased consumption of locally grown vegetables.
4. Number of participants engaged in physical activity for at least 30 minutes five or more days during most weeks.

Questions/Issues to address in your state:

• Are these currently being collected in your state?
• Is something similar being collected in your state?
• Are you willing to collect these in your state?
• Will this be messy in your state?
• Is this an opportunity to strengthen your impact data?
• If they are being collected, how? By whom?
• Do you have tools to share . . . specifically to collect these data?
• Will this help you tell your story?

Print-ready version: local-foods-common-measures-12-08-2014.pdf