An increasing number of studies highlight the positive economic impact of buying directly from farmers. To close off National Farmers Market week, we’d like to introduce a recent study that once again proves the benefits of keeping land in healthy agricultural production.

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As a past board member at the Davis farmers market, Shermain Hardesty knows that people who buy fruits and vegetables directly from producers show up week after week and voice support for local businesses.

Now, the UC Davis agricultural economics professor Shermain Hardesty just released a study that shows a dollar of sales for a direct-market fruit or vegetable grower has about twice the local economic impact as a dollar of sales at one of the Sacramento region’s larger wholesale farms.

Although direct market farms represent 4% of the fruit and vegetable industry in the Sacramento region, Hardesty argues that “those smaller outfits should not be discounted when policymakers set rules that affect land use”.

The study shows that, $1 million in revenue from direct-market farms generates almost 32 local jobs whereas the same amount of revenue from the larger growers creates 10.5 jobs locally.

“I’m hoping this type of a study can provide some evidence that when they’re converting farmland, they’re losing part of what’s happening in the economy,” Hardesty said.

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