CARBONDALE, Ill. — An economic impact study of the southern Illinois region more than two years in the making shines a spotlight on just how much food is grown, and how much is shipped out of the area.

The study, completed by Crossroads Research Center at the request of Food Works, Southern Illinois Healthcare, the Illinois Coalition for Community Services (ICCS) and a group of local businesses, covered the southernmost 23 counties in Illinois.

Its key conclusion is an eye-opener: Of the $1.8 billion residents in the region spent on food during the latest study year, 2010, $1.7 billion of that was spent on food produced outside of the region.

“We grow a lot of crops here in southern Illinois, but little of it is being directly consumed by people here,” said Dayna Conner, executive director of Food Works, a regional group with a goal of promoting locally grown products.

“Much of what is grown here is for large commodity markets. Of the $1.8 billion southern Illinois residents spend on food each year, $1.7 billion of that is spent on food from far-flung places.”

The 24-page study dissected data regarding personal income, agriculture census information and health and poverty statistics to develop a general picture of the region’s food economy. Getting residents to buy more locally produced items is one of the key goals of the local food movement, and a key goal of several regional groups such as Food Works and state entities such as the Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs Council.

Conner noted that based on the study’s results, if residents in the region (population 704,707) purchased $5 of food every week from a local grower, an additional $191 million of new farm income would be generated for those producers and the region – nearly tripling the 2010 total of local foods purchased by locals.

“That’s significant. Those dollars would circulate many more times in the local economy,” Conner said.

Crossroads’ Ken Meter said it was important to quantify the region’s food economy. “Food Works and the ICCS have been working with a group of local leaders since last September. We wanted to have solid data that gives a snapshot of the current local farm and food economy and highlight issues that are unique to the southern Illinois region,” he said.

The study noted there were 13,335 farms in the region covering nearly four million acres, about 17 percent of the statewide total, and that growers sold a total of $1.2 billion in crops and livestock in 2007, the most recent total included in the study. About 90 percent of those sales were to entities outside southern Illinois.

Buying local makes sense, said Bill Conners, head chef for Southern Illinois University’s foodservice operation, which buys more than 20 percent of its food products for student consumption from local growers. Local products are fresher, and it costs less to move goods a shorter distance. “You get a fresher product … many times, a higher quality product, with a better flavor,” Conners said. “When you compare a garden tomato to one at the grocery store that hasn’t been vine-ripened and was maybe shipped and stored in a warehouse for a few days, there is a big difference.” The study is online at www.crc works.org/crcdocs/ilsosum12.pdf