Economic Services
Your industry contributes more to the economy than you may realize. Looking at direct product sales is only a small part of the bigger picture. Your industry creates jobs. It generates farm income. It supports rural communities and drives regional economic activity in ways that go far beyond what's visible on the surface.
Every time that a farmer buys a piece of equipment, has lunch at the local diner, or hires more workers, your industry is supporting the broader economy. We help you quantify the ripple effects and give you the numbers that tell the bigger story.
Farm income effects
Processing and manufacturing jobs
Rural community multipliers
State and regional GDP contribution
Supply chain output across relevant industry segments
Our IMPLAN-based economic impact analysis is calibrated to the specific dynamics of your commodity and market. We make sure that the inputs reflect how your sector actually moves money through the economy.
Our detailed analysis covers:
The result is a study that holds up and helps legislators, government agencies, and your own members better understand the positive contributions to society.
Who This Is For
Commodity boards and producer organizations that need to quantify the economic contribution of their sector for state legislators, USDA program administrators, or member audiences evaluating the value of their investment.
Industry groups and regional food system coalitions that need to demonstrate the ripple effects of a program, initiative, or market development effort in economic terms.
Trade associations that need an independent, rigorous economic analysis to support advocacy, program renewal, or member communications.
State departments of agriculture that need sector-specific impact data to support budget requests, grant applications, or public-facing reports.
Why the Inputs Are Everything
Standard IMPLAN models aren’t detailed down to the actual commodity or market being studied.
You know that there’s a difference in how corn is grown, sold, and moved throughout the country than cotton or leafy greens are. So do we. That’s why we take the time to set up each study to be specific to the industry in question and to ensure that we capture the nuance of your segment. This makes all the difference in the final results and ensuring that your study captures the full value of your contributions.
Michael personally leads every economic analysis engagement. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Applied and Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M and has formal training and advanced proficiency in IMPLAN software. Michael spent years building economic impact studies at Informa Economics for major agricultural organizations before serving as an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation and working in private industry.
Our commodity-specific knowledge goes into each unique study, and it makes all the difference in the final results.
Pricing
Economic impact studies are scoped individually based on the commodity, the geographic scope, the number of industry segments involved, and the intended audience.
The economic impact analysis often comes after the commercial strategy work is implemented by individual companies or organizations. We run the numbers after markets have developed, supply chain relationships have formed, or industry initiatives have taken hold, and we help answer the question: what did all of this actually create?
But it also works the other way. Trade associations that commission an impact study may identify commercial gaps in how their members are positioned, creating new opportunities that the advisory work is built to address.
If you need both, we can sequence the engagements to make sure each one builds on the other.
How This Connects to the Rest of Our Work
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We take on a select number of clients each year so that we can provide quality results on a timeline that meets your needs. Most studies take six to eight weeks from kickoff through delivery, depending on the scope and the availability of input data. We'll give you a specific timeline after the diagnostic call.
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Access to production, processing, and/or market data specific to your commodity or initiative. We’ll use the diagnostic call to clarify exactly what's needed for your situation.
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There are a number of excellent resources that use IMPLAN modeling for economic impact studies. Because we are a boutique firm, we often find that we can produce high quality results with less overhead, which allows us to pass those savings onto our clients. We also build in the time and capacity to frame the findings for your specific audience. We can work directly with your graphic designers or internal team so the numbers and the story arrive as one usable package, ready for the room you're walking into.
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Yes. Economic impact analysis is a standard component of USDA, DOE, and other federal grant applications. We can scope the study specifically to meet the requirements of the program you're applying to.
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We can update or expand prior studies, and we often recommend doing so. We advise our clients to have fresh analysis done every two years to ensure that it is the most up-to-date and reflective of current dynamics. Bring any past work examples to the diagnostic call, and we'll assess how to repurpose or update it.
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Our expertise is specifically in food and agriculture markets. The accuracy of the inputs depends on knowing the sector deeply, which is why we work where we have genuine depth.
FAQs
Let’s Work Together
If you're interested in working with us, complete the form with a few details about your project. We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.