A recent study co-authored by Brad Rickard and Todd Schmit, both professors in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell, and Pamela Weinberg-Shapiro, a lecturer in the Division of Nutritional Sciences in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, analyses the cost-benefit ratios for hypothetical scenarios aimed at expanding the presence of local fruits and vegetables in school lunches. The proposed subsidies would provide financial boosts for New York famers and local economies and keep school lunches locally based at 5 cents per school lunch, one day per week. The study estimates that the program could cost taxpayers $2.8 million per year, but could increase the “purchase of local fruits and vegetables by 50 percent one day a week… generate up to $9.2 million in new revenue for vegetable farmers and up to $5.3 million for fruit producers and businesses that support these industries.”

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