Measuring Agricultural Health

Phil Tocco

Extension Educator

MSUE-Jackson County

Measuring Agricultural Health

What Does Healthy Agriculture Look Like?

Research Objectives• Develop a quantitative picture of our current food

system reality.

• Suggest realistic changes to all levels of government to enhance local economic viability.

• Define key subsectors with high growth potential and/or impediments to growth.

• Create useful datasets to help form linkages between entrepreneurs and markets.

Why the Agrifood System?

• Agriculture is Michigan’s #2 industry.

• It adds $71 Billion to the state economy per year.

• In 2007 the state’s agricultural economy grew 12%.

• In 2007, the total state economy shrank 1%.

Source: MSU Product Center

What is the Agrifood System?Wheat

Milling

Storing

Baking

Distribution

Grocery Store

Your Table

JobsJobs

Jobs

Disaggregating Agriculture

Farmer Shipper RetailerFood

ProcessorAgricultural Economy

Economic

Disaggregating Agriculture

Farmer

Pros

• Income correlates to health, housing and education quality.

• It’s easy.

Cons

• High income fluctuation from year to year.

• Many farms have off farm revenue.

Balanced Scorecard

Disaggregating Agriculture

Farmer

Pros

• Takes into account economic, environmental and social aspects.

• Great for measuring against an ideal scenario.

Cons

• Not designed for regional use.

• No consensus for what objective ideal agriculture looks like.

Social

Environmental

Economic

Disaggregating Agriculture

Farmer

Pros

• Is comprehensive in scope.

• Is adaptable for regional use.

Cons

• Sporadic availability of quantitative data.

• May skew results based on what’s measured.

What Do We Measure?

• Quantitative economic data.

• Quantitative environmental measures.

• Qualitative wellbeing measures.

Photo Credit Getty Images

Economic Measures

• Net farm cash income compared with the last 5 years.

• Dependency ratio.

• Land conversion to or from agriculture.

• Local food consumption to capacity ratio.

Photo Credit Getty Images

Environmental Measures

• Reduced tillage adoption.

• Water Use in gallons per acre.

• Cropping system diversity per acre

Photo Credit Getty Images

Wellbeing Measures

• On farm stress and family disputes.

• Intergenerational transfer issues.

• Free time and involvement in broader community

Timeline for Completion

Write Final Report

(September 2009)

Carry out Tillage Transects

(May 2009)

Begin Qualitative Assessment

(June 2009)

Carry out Quantitative Measures

(July 2009)

Tabulate Qualitative Results

(August 2009)

Release Final Report

(October 2009)