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For many years and from many different places, you have repeatedly heard that you should "buy local," and "support your local businesses."
When the economy slumps and money gets tight, people put off purchases for new items like furniture, cars, electronics and vacations. No matter how tough things get however, people still have to eat.
That's where "the 10% difference" comes into play. If Vermonters shifted just 10% of their food purchases to locally grown food products, that would add more than $100 million to Vermont's economy.
 Though the percentages vary a bit over time, generally speaking, consumers in the Northeast, including Vermont, spend approximately 13.5% of their annual income on food.
The median family income in Vermont (all households) is about $40,856 which translates into about $5,515 spent annually on food. As you can imagine, this is very much an average and varies widely based on the size of the household and income levels.
With 240,000 households in Vermont, it translates into about $1.3 billion spent on food by Vermonters each year. If Vermonters were to shift just 10% of their food purchases to buying locally grown food products, that could potentially add an additional $130 million to Vermont's economy.
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