The purpose of this study is to identify the economic impact, in terms of community wealth creation, that can be achieved by a shift of 25% of our local food expenditures from 5% to 30% in a 10-year time frame. Local food, for this study, is considered to be food sourced in the City and County of Peterborough. No attempt is being made to identify the how and the cost of effecting the 25% shift. This complete study comprises two parts:

Part 1     Economic Impact (this report.)

Part 2     Jobs and Livelihoods (to be completed). Implementing a 25% shift to local food over the 10-year time frame to 2024 would value the local annual Food Market Sector at approximately $296M  in the City and County of Peterborough, while also providing benefits of jobs and livelihoods, resulting in an economic impact at between approximately $406M to $491M by 2024. This is explained further in the study.  The 25% shift in local food likely offers the greatest job creation and greenhouse gas emissions reduction opportunity that exists over the next ten years for the City and County of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.