Harry Hayman Advocates for Pennsylvania's Local Food Economy: PA Preferred as Blueprint for Community Resilience
The answers are hiding in plain sight. For decades, Pennsylvania has possessed a comprehensive framework for building resilient local food systems, supporting family farms, and keeping economic resources circulating within communities rather than extracting them to distant corporate headquarters. Yet despite overwhelming evidence that local food purchasing strengthens regional economies, creates jobs, and improves food security, the solution remains underutilized. Harry Hayman, Philadelphia advocate and producer of the documentary I AM HUNGRY, recently amplified this call to action, pointing to PA Preferred as the readily available tool that makes choosing local food systems straightforward rather than complicated.
The Economic Case for Local Food: Understanding the Multiplier Effect
When Harry Hayman writes that supporting Pennsylvania farmers strengthens local businesses, shortens supply chains, and keeps money here, he’s describing what economists call the “local multiplier effect.” This phenomenon has been extensively studied across Pennsylvania and nationwide, revealing compelling evidence that local food purchases generate significantly more economic activity than purchases from national chains or distant suppliers.
According to research by the PA Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, the multiplier for food related farming activities in the Lehigh Valley is 1.449, calculated by Penn State University. This means that for every dollar received by food related farms in the Lehigh Valley, 45 cents is generated for additional economic growth. In stark contrast, a case study conducted in Midcoast Maine found that national chain stores yield a return of only 14 cents to the local economy. The difference isn’t marginal. It’s transformative.
If each Greater Lehigh Valley household spent just $10 per week on locally grown food, it would generate $207 million for local farms and $93 million for local businesses. That represents an extra $300 million put back into the economy annually from a seemingly modest shift in purchasing habits. Across Pennsylvania’s population, the potential impact becomes staggering. Yet achieving this requires overcoming inertia, habit, and the perception that supporting local food is complicated or expensive.
Research from NC State Extension examining local food systems nationwide found multiplier effects for spending on locally produced foods ranging between $1.32 and $1.90. This means that for every dollar spent on local products, there is between 32 and 90 cents worth of additional local economic activity. The Fair Food Network notes that studies show the multiplier effect of a locally owned business is two or three times higher than that of a non local business.
The mechanism behind this multiplier effect is straightforward. When consumers buy lettuce at a farmers market, the farmer takes home 100 percent of that dollar. That farmer then spends money on local employees, equipment from area suppliers, services from regional providers. Those employees and businesses, in turn, spend their income with other local merchants, who provide greater support for local organizations and activities. The dollar circulates multiple times within the regional economy before eventually “leaking” out through purchases of imports or payments to distant corporations.
Conversely, when consumers buy that same head of lettuce at a national chain supermarket, the majority of the purchase price immediately leaves the local economy, flowing to corporate headquarters, distant shareholders, and centralized distribution systems. The local circulation is minimal. The multiplier effect nearly nonexistent.
Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Infrastructure: Foundation for Food Security
Harry Hayman’s emphasis on local jobs and resilient supply chains connects directly to Pennsylvania’s agricultural strengths. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, agriculture generates employment and economic activity on nearly 53,000 farms across all 67 counties and supports one in every ten jobs in Pennsylvania across many industries. The financial impact includes employment of more than 66,800 people in the food manufacturing industry and over $1.7 billion in food product exports.
Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry possesses distinctive advantages: diversity and quality of crops and producers, smaller farm operations allowing for flexible adaptation, a mix of conventional and organic farming practices, rich soil supported by the Appalachian watershed, a strong farming tradition strengthened by the nation’s leading farmland preservation program, and robust agricultural infrastructure built over centuries. The commonwealth leads the nation in food processing companies, with more than 2,300 operating across the state.
This infrastructure creates foundation for what Fourth Economy’s recent analysis describes as an industry that represents 4.5% of Pennsylvania’s workforce, with job growth projected to continue across most industry clusters through 2034. Pennsylvania’s food and agriculture sector generates billions in economic impact, supporting diverse communities while positioning for future growth through the state’s first 10 Year Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan.
Yet despite these strengths, Pennsylvania faces the paradox that has troubled Harry Hayman throughout his food security advocacy work: abundance coexisting with scarcity, agricultural wealth alongside urban food insecurity. The infrastructure exists. The farmers are producing. The PA Preferred branding makes identification straightforward. What’s missing isn’t capacity. It’s systematic choice to prioritize local over distant, regional over national, community wealth over corporate extraction.
PA Preferred: Making Local Choice Stupid Easy
When Harry Hayman writes that “PA Preferred makes it stupid easy to do the right thing without overthinking it,” he’s highlighting the program’s core value proposition. PA Preferred is a free program developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture that helps promote food and products made in Pennsylvania. The distinctive checkmark logo means consumers can trust that 75 percent or more of the product or the ingredients used to make the product were grown or harvested in Pennsylvania.
The program provides farmers and agribusinesses with brand identity for products they grow, harvest, or produce, creating opportunities for Pennsylvanians to easily identify and purchase locally grown and processed items. When buying PA Preferred, consumers are assured they’re directly supporting Pennsylvania farmers, keeping dollars within the commonwealth, and strengthening regional food systems. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s registration information, eligibility requirements are straightforward, and the program is free for participating businesses.
PA Preferred products span remarkable diversity. Fresh produce includes everything from the first sprouts of leafy greens in spring to sweet corn and vine ripened tomatoes of summer and deep sunset hues of autumnal beets, carrots, and radishes. PA Eats reporting on vegetable growers notes that Pennsylvania’s diverse landscape, with mountain ranges, fertile river valleys, and rolling farmland, sets the stage for tremendous vegetable growth of all kinds. The state is ranked second nationally for direct to consumer agricultural sales.
Beyond vegetables, PA Preferred encompasses dairy products from the commonwealth’s extensive dairy operations, meat from local livestock producers, maple syrup and honey, beverages crafted from Pennsylvania ingredients, fleece from locally raised alpacas, crafts made from Pennsylvania hardwoods, mushrooms from the state’s thriving fungi cultivation sector, and countless value added products processed within the commonwealth. The program makes finding these products straightforward at on farm markets, farm stands, farmers markets, and grocers throughout Pennsylvania.
The infrastructure supporting PA Preferred includes robust middle of the supply chain operations. According to Michael Keefe, Commodities Program Manager for the Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program, Pennsylvania’s vegetable supply chain has a strong and well networked center. Vegetable growers work cooperatively in different ways to aggregate their produce and attract wholesale distributors who will pick up large amounts. These distributors include Three Rivers Grown in Pittsburgh and operations throughout the commonwealth connecting farmers with retailers and institutions.
Recent Pennsylvania Investments in Local Food Infrastructure
Harry Hayman’s assertion that “the answers to the test are literally right in front of us” gains support from recent Pennsylvania policy initiatives demonstrating government recognition of local food systems’ value. In June 2025, Governor Shapiro’s administration announced over $21 million in federally funded grants to 77 farms and food manufacturers to increase capacity, drive growth, and provide opportunity throughout Pennsylvania’s food supply chain.
”Pennsylvania is investing to feed our future through a stronger local supply chain, which means healthier communities, thriving businesses, more job opportunities, and more resilience in challenging times,” said Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. The funding comes through Pennsylvania’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, which provides dollar for dollar matching grants to support food processing, distribution, and aggregation from multiple farms to help meet demand for local, seasonal, and fresh food.
Examples of funded projects illustrate the infrastructure gap these investments address. FarmFan received $965,459 to upgrade its warehouse, fleet, and add production kitchen to expand local food delivery and value added products while supporting at least 150 Pennsylvania producers. Turner Dairy Farms received $750,000 to expand its Pittsburgh distribution center with cold storage, state of the art loading docks, and automation to improve efficiency, worker safety, and market access. The Mini Piebox received $98,977 to launch a shared use food processing hub with new commercial kitchen equipment for urban farmers.
Additional Pennsylvania investments include $3.4 million through the Fresh Food Financing Initiative, announced in 2025, targeting businesses across 23 counties that connect low income communities with fresh, healthy, affordable food produced by local farms. “Pennsylvania farmers do the noble work of producing fresh, healthy food every day,” Secretary Redding explained. “But too many families struggle to find affordable, fresh food close to home, and their health suffers, sometimes for generations.”
These investments recognize what Pennsylvania’s 10 Year Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan articulates: the industry must be profitable and resilient, supported by diverse adaptive farms and strong businesses that drive regional prosperity; economically catalytic, scaling existing enterprises while supporting new business development; and a source of sustainable careers, creating clear pathways for individuals and families to build long term prosperity.
The investments also respond to supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by recent disruptions. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s food supply analysis, supply chain challenges and workforce shortages have dramatically impacted available food supplies, from production through distribution. Strengthening local and regional supply chains increases resilience by shortening distances between producers and consumers, reducing dependency on long haul trucking and complex logistics, and creating redundancy when distant supply chains fail.
Food as Infrastructure: Reframing Local Agriculture Investment
Harry Hayman’s use of the hashtag #FoodAsInfrastructure signals conceptual shift essential to understanding local food systems’ strategic importance. Traditional infrastructure investments in roads, bridges, utilities, and broadband receive bipartisan political support because they’re understood as foundational to economic competitiveness and community wellbeing. Food systems deserve equivalent recognition and investment.
When supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic left supermarket shelves empty while farmers destroyed excess production they couldn’t process or distribute, the brittleness of consolidated, centralized food systems became viscerally apparent. Regions with stronger local and regional food infrastructure weathered disruptions more successfully. Farmers who had cultivated direct relationships with consumers through farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and farm stands pivoted to meet demand. Processing facilities serving regional markets remained operational when national plants shut down.
Pennsylvania’s investments in cold storage infrastructure, processing equipment, distribution capacity, and aggregation hubs create redundancy and flexibility that purely national supply chains lack. When one system fails, others can compensate. When demand shifts, regional systems can adapt more nimbly than massive centralized operations. This isn’t just about food access during emergencies. It’s about economic resilience, public health preparedness, and community self determination.
The University of Pennsylvania and Fourth Economy analysis examining Pennsylvania’s food and agriculture industry emphasizes that the sector sits at the center of today’s most critical conversations: food security, climate, energy, and human, animal, and environmental health. Pennsylvania has strengths across the entire value chain, from raw materials to wholesale and retail markets, with notable advantages in food processing and forestry processing. Leveraging in state resources to strengthen connections within and across sectors enhances supply chain efficiency, resilience, and economic impact.
This infrastructure perspective explains why Harry Hayman’s advocacy connects food security work through the I AM HUNGRY documentary with broader economic development and community resilience initiatives. When hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians experience food insecurity not because of agricultural scarcity but because of dysfunctional distribution systems that prioritize profit over nutrition and corporate consolidation over community access, the problem isn’t production. It’s infrastructure and political economy.
The Farmers Market Advantage: Direct Connection Between Producers and Consumers
Understanding PA Preferred’s potential requires examining direct sales channels that exemplify local food economics. According to research on farmers markets in Western Pennsylvania, these venues play indispensable roles in urban areas, offering wealth of benefits extending beyond direct buying and selling of food. By providing space for local farmers and artisans to sell products, markets keep money within communities and help sustain small businesses. The growth of urban farmers markets has been boon to local agriculture, enabling farmers to connect directly with large consumer bases.
Urban farmers markets give local farmers opportunity to sell produce directly to consumers, increasing profits by cutting out middlemen. Markets like Pittsburgh Downtown Farmers Market have been instrumental in supporting Pennsylvania farmers by providing access to vibrant urban customer bases. Markets also create variety of jobs, from vendor positions to administrative and support roles, while encouraging development of related businesses such as local cafes and shops that thrive on increased foot traffic.
The economic multiplier effect generated by farmers markets operates through money circulating within local economies. Research from Fair Food Network explains that when you spend money at a local pharmacy, its employees then go to the supermarket, which might buy from a local farmer. The more times and faster a dollar passes between hands without leakage, the more income, wealth, and jobs created in a community. Civic Economics has conducted studies across North America measuring difference in local economic return between local independents and chain businesses, consistently finding that independent businesses return two to three times as much money to local economies as chains.
Pennsylvania’s farmers markets also provide enhanced buying power through programs like Philly Food Bucks and similar initiatives. According to research on healthy food incentive programs, these mechanisms match food assistance benefits, allowing SNAP recipients to double their purchasing power for fresh produce. For example, $20 in SNAP benefits can become $40 in market currency at participating farmers markets. According to the Food Trust, $773,000 in Food Bucks and Food Bucks RX coupons were redeemed for fresh fruits and vegetables last year across all participating locations in Pennsylvania.
Beyond economic benefits, farmers markets serve critical roles in nutrition and food access. In Western Pennsylvania, urban farmers markets are critical in providing access to fresh fruits and vegetables often scarce in city grocery stores. Markets in Pittsburgh’s Strip District and East Liberty have been praised for wide variety of fresh, locally sourced produce. Many markets offer cooking demonstrations, nutritional workshops, and educational programs to help consumers make healthier food choices. Regular access to fresh food helps foster healthier eating habits while encouraging physical activity as people browse various stalls.
Corporate Responsibility and Local Sourcing: Institutional Change
Individual consumer choices matter, but systematic change requires institutional commitments from large purchasers. Pennsylvania’s agricultural sector has developed corporate partnership models that extend local sourcing benefits beyond farmers markets. According to the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s examination of Pennsylvania agriculture, organizations have developed “insetting” strategies that leverage financial and technical support for conservation on each interested farm in a corporation’s supply chain.
This approach recognizes that while direct to consumer sales through farmers markets provide crucial income for small farms, scaling local food systems requires connecting Pennsylvania producers with institutional purchasers: restaurants, hospitals, universities, corporate cafeterias, school districts, government agencies. When these large buyers commit to sourcing Pennsylvania products, they create stable markets that enable farmers to invest in equipment, hire employees, and plan for expansion.
Pennsylvania’s Fresh Food Financing Initiative and Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grants support this middle of the supply chain development. Aggregators, processors, and distributors who can collect products from multiple small farms, process them to specifications required by institutional buyers, and deliver reliably on schedule make local sourcing feasible for large purchasers who cannot manage relationships with dozens of individual farms. This infrastructure creates virtuous cycles where institutional demand enables farmers to scale production, which makes local sourcing more cost effective for institutions, which increases demand further.
Harry Hayman’s background managing legendary Philadelphia restaurants including Zanzibar Blue and SOUTH Jazz Kitchen provides firsthand understanding of sourcing decisions’ impact. Restaurants that commit to featuring PA Preferred products don’t just support local farmers. They also differentiate themselves in competitive markets, appeal to consumers increasingly interested in food origins and environmental impact, and create compelling narratives about seasonal menus and regional specialties.
Policy Frameworks Supporting Local Food Economy
When Harry Hayman writes “you don’t need another panel, you don’t need another task force,” he’s expressing frustration with tendency toward endless deliberation that delays action. Yet Pennsylvania’s local food infrastructure didn’t emerge spontaneously. It resulted from deliberate policy choices, sustained advocacy, and strategic investments over decades. Understanding this history illuminates pathways forward.
The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, first launched in 2004, exemplifies effective policy intervention. According to case study research on the program, it was developed following extensive stakeholder engagement including 40 high level representatives from public sector and civil society: food access advocates, community leaders, supermarket industry leaders, government leaders, financial sector representatives, city planning officials, and economic development leaders. The program secured seed funding of $30 million from the state and leveraged an additional $117 million in private resources.
Between 2004 and 2010, the program achieved significant outcomes. New stores brought increased access to fresh foods along with hundreds of full time jobs to neighborhoods, with 80% of employees living within two mile radius. Earnings in participating supermarkets increased by $12.5 million over the program period. At the county level, economic multiplier for investments was estimated at 1.5, meaning every $1 of direct investment generated benefits equivalent to $1.50 to the community. These outcomes helped dispel initial concerns and provided evidence base for expansion.
The program’s success led to adoption by other states and in 2010 by the federal government as the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. While state budget restraints following the 2009 financial crisis prevented significant expansion in Pennsylvania, the model demonstrated that strategic public investment in food infrastructure generates measurable economic returns alongside improved food access.
Pennsylvania’s PA Preferred program represents different policy approach: branding and marketing support rather than direct financial investment. By creating recognizable logo and comprehensive directory of participating businesses, the program reduces information barriers that prevent consumers from identifying local products. Transaction costs decrease. Consumer confidence increases. The “stupid easy” simplicity Harry Hayman references results from systematic effort to make local choice default rather than deliberate.
Community Food Security and Economic Justice
Harry Hayman’s food security advocacy through the I AM HUNGRY documentary connects intimately with local food economy development. When nearly 250,000 Philadelphia residents experience food insecurity while Pennsylvania farmers struggle with market access and price pressures, the dysfunction isn’t scarcity. It’s distribution systems that treat food as commodity to maximize profit rather than human right to be universally accessible.
Research from Drexel University’s Center for Hunger Free Communities consistently emphasizes that household food insecurity won’t be solved with food itself. The issue stems from economics and discriminatory systems that isolate neighborhoods and populations from finances and resources needed to access nutritious food. Philadelphia’s history of redlining keeps people out of certain neighborhoods while organizing disinvestment in others. This creates “food apartheid” rather than mere “food deserts” – acknowledging that lack of access to healthy food disproportionately affecting communities of color results from deliberate policy choices rather than natural scarcity.
Local food systems offer partial solutions. Community supported agriculture programs connecting urban consumers with regional farms provide advance payments that help farmers manage cash flow challenges. Urban agriculture initiatives bring production directly into neighborhoods lacking retail access. Mobile markets and farm stands operate in communities that supermarkets abandoned. These interventions don’t solve structural poverty or systemic racism, but they create immediate access while building community capacity and economic opportunity.
Pennsylvania’s investments through Fresh Food Financing Initiative explicitly target this intersection. According to the $3.4 million in grants announced in 2025, funded projects include mobile produce markets with commercial kitchens providing fresh prepared meals and value added products to underserved communities, cold chain infrastructure allowing year round availability of Pennsylvania grown products, farm stands in food deserts introducing EBT self checkout systems, and business incubators supporting local farmers and food entrepreneurs while providing access to fresh locally grown food for low income communities.
These investments recognize that strengthening local food systems serves multiple goals simultaneously: economic development supporting Pennsylvania farmers, job creation in food processing and distribution, improved nutrition and health outcomes for communities with limited access, and enhanced resilience making food systems less vulnerable to distant supply chain disruptions.
Consumer Education and Behavior Change
Infrastructure and policy create conditions for local food systems to thrive, but realization requires consumer participation. Harry Hayman’s call to “read it, subscribe, shop local, repeat” acknowledges that systematic change demands sustained individual action. Yet behavioral economics research demonstrates that changing consumption patterns requires more than information. It requires reducing friction, creating new habits, and restructuring choice architecture.
PA Preferred’s logo system reduces cognitive load. Consumers don’t need to research every product’s origins, verify claims, or assess certifications. The checkmark provides trusted signal. This matters because decision fatigue is real. Shopping involves thousands of choices. Systems that simplify identification of local products make local choice more likely.
Price remains consideration. Research from early studies of farmers markets by Bard College and the Northeast Organic Farming Association found that many locally grown items at farmers markets, even organic items, are comparable to or even less expensive than those same items in conventional grocery stores. However, aggregated statistics can obscure variation. Some local products cost more due to scale economies favoring large producers, while others cost less by eliminating distribution markups.
Programs like Philly Food Bucks that double SNAP purchasing power for fresh produce directly address affordability barriers. According to Penn State Extension research on healthy food incentive programs, these interventions serve triple bottom line: household nutrition improvement, local economic development, and tremendous economic return on investment. Research demonstrates that healthy food incentive programs don’t just reduce hunger and improve nutrition at individual or household level. They support local agriculture and retail with significant economic multipliers.
Education about food systems, seasonal availability, preparation techniques, and nutritional value complements infrastructure and affordability initiatives. Many Pennsylvania farmers markets offer cooking demonstrations and recipe cards. Food Trust’s Heart Smarts program provides in store nutrition education at corner stores participating in Healthy Corner Store Initiative. These educational components help consumers understand why local matters, how to incorporate seasonal products into meal planning, and techniques for preparing unfamiliar vegetables or cuts of meat.
This Is The Way: Pennsylvania’s Path Forward
Harry Hayman’s concluding hashtag #ThisIsTheWay captures both certainty about local food systems’ value and determination required for implementation. Evidence supporting local food economy development is overwhelming. Economic multipliers demonstrating two to three times greater local impact compared to national chains. Job creation spanning farming, processing, distribution, and retail. Supply chain resilience reducing vulnerability to distant disruptions. Health improvements from increased fresh produce consumption. Environmental benefits from reduced transportation distances and sustainable farming practices encouraging
by local market differentiation.
Yet despite evidence, implementation lags. Pennsylvania possesses agricultural abundance, processing infrastructure, distribution networks, consumer demand, and supportive policy frameworks. PA Preferred provides simple identification system. Recent state investments totaling tens of millions of dollars support infrastructure development. Programs like Philly Food Bucks enhance affordability. Educational initiatives build consumer awareness. The pieces exist.
What’s required is systematic commitment. Consumers choosing PA Preferred products deliberately, even when alternatives cost slightly less or seem more convenient. Restaurants featuring local ingredients prominently and educating diners about sourcing. Institutions from hospitals to universities to government agencies prioritizing Pennsylvania suppliers in procurement. Retailers dedicating shelf space and marketing support to local products. Policymakers maintaining and expanding investments in food infrastructure despite competing budget pressures.
This isn’t complicated. It’s not revolutionary. It’s not even particularly innovative. The answers have been in front of Pennsylvania for decades. PA Preferred makes identification stupid easy. Economic research demonstrates compelling returns. Infrastructure exists or can be built with strategic investment. What’s required is choice, sustained over time, by enough people and institutions to shift market dynamics.
Harry Hayman’s advocacy work through the I AM HUNGRY documentary, his food security collaborations with Feed Philly Coalition and Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, his cultural documentation of Philadelphia’s evolving identity approaching the city’s 250th anniversary in 2026, and his vocal support for local food systems all reflect integrated understanding. Food security, economic development, community resilience, and social justice interconnect. Addressing one requires addressing all.
When nearly one in five Philadelphians experiences food insecurity while Pennsylvania farmers struggle with market access, when national supply chains prove brittle during disruptions while local infrastructure remains underutilized, when dollars leak from communities to distant corporations while local multiplier effects could generate two to three times greater economic impact, the solution isn’t mysterious. It’s choice. Choose local. Support Pennsylvania farmers. Strengthen local businesses. Shorten supply chains. Keep dollars here.
Read it. Subscribe. Shop local. Repeat. This is the way.
Harry Hayman is a Philadelphia based entrepreneur, hospitality leader, and social justice advocate. He serves as producer of the documentary I AM HUNGRY: The Many Faces of Food Insecurity, Senior Fellow for Food Economy and Policy at the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, and collaborates with the Feed Philly Coalition on food security initiatives. His work integrates cultural documentation, community advocacy, and economic development to strengthen Philadelphia’s food systems and regional resilience. Learn more at harryhayman.com. Find PA Preferred products at papreferred.com.