A 2016 study by UC Davis about buying directly from farmers has a disproportionately large impact on the local economy.  This study concluded that buying directly from a farmer has about twice the impact on the local economy as ending a dollar on food that goes through a middleman—like a supermarket.  Saturday, September 16, 2017 was the seventh annual Kenton County Farm Harvest Tour.  While there were 16 attraction this year, there were 12 farms that participated in the farm tour.  This year there were over 10,000 visits made to the stops of the tour.  Immediately after the farm tour all of the farmers were sent an economic impact survey to get an understanding of the total dollars transacted because of the farm tour. 

The survey tool was an anonymous on-line survey where the respondents could answer eight question.  100% of the farms responded to the survey.   Five of the farms indicated they had sold $500.00 or more during the tour; 6 indicated that they had sold over $1000.00 during the tour.  60% of the farmers said that their participation in the farm tour will definitely net future income. 90% of the participating farms utilize the Kenton County Farm Harvest Tour as an opportunity to market their farm products.