According the 2015 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey, conducted by US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2015 167,000 American farms sold food through direct marketing practices, resulting in $8.7 billion in revenue. Pennsylvania led in the number of farms selling directly to consumers, with more than 6,000 operations. California led in sales, earning $467 million. The 2015 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey is the first-ever survey conducted by the USDA to produce benchmark data about local food marketing practices. For more information, see https://blogs.usda.gov/2017/01/12/bringing-it-home-at-the-end-of-the-year/
While not all local food in the US can be considered as qualifying for GIs recognition, these data represent another element demonstrating the US tremendous potential in the field of GIs, which needs to be further explored and developed. On top of the existing American Vinicultural Areas (AVAs) for US GIs in the wine sector, some US GIs in the agricultural sector are protected via certification marks (for more information about US GIs and the national legal framework, see our page GIs in the US).
This summary has been extracted from an “oriGIn Alert”, which is a service reserved exclusively to oriGIn members.
