Community Attributes Influencing Local Food Processing Growth in the U.S. Corn Belt

This paper examines local and regional attributes associated with growth in the food processing industry. The paper uses industrial location studies to develop a model of food processing plants’growth. Ordinary least squares (OLS) models are estimated to analyze which local, regional and state attributes are associated with county level growth, measured by a change in the number of establishments. The results suggest that food processing growth is associated with factors similar to those influencing the location of footloose manufacturing plants. However, growth in food processing sectors is associated with different local attributes depending on a firm's industry type (demand-oriented, supply-oriented, footloose). Les auteurs examinent les caracteres locaux et regionaux associes a la croissance dans le secteur agroalimentaire. S'appuyant sur des etudes sur les emplacements industriels, ils ont elabore un modele de croissance pour les usines de transformation des aliments. Les modeles de regression OLS sont calcules pour determiner quelles variables aux paliers local, regional ou fiscal (niveau de l'Etat) sont reliees a la croissance au niveau du comte, mesurees d'apres le changement dans le nombre d'usines. D'apres les resultats, on peut conclure que les facteurs influant sur la croissance dans le secteur agro-alimentaire sont les memes que ceux qui determinent le choix de l'emplacement des entreprises manufacturieres generales. Toutefois, la croissance dans le secteur agro-alimentaire est liee a des caracteres locaux differents, selon que l'entreprise est dependante de la distribution ou de l'approvisionnement ou qu'elle est sans contrainte domainante a cet egard. Toutefois, au palier local, les facteurs determinants different

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