Job growth in food cluster

The growth of food as an industry is well-known in Rhode Island, so it wasn’t startling to see it emerge last week as one of five potential economic-development clusters for Providence to cultivate.

What was surprising was the pace of growth, and the potential for what Fourth Economy Consultants call a portside facility in copacking of organic food products.

The food processing, packaging and sales cluster was identified by the Pittsburgh consultants as the one that garnered the most excitement among the cluster-analysis steering committee, but it’s also the one that has a potential for job growth.

Other growth areas identified by the consultants were life sciences, educational technology, design and advanced manufacturing, and social enterprises.

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“Food is the one that’s easiest for people to get their heads around,” said Richard Overmoyer, president and CEO of Fourth Economy, in a recent interview. “People understand there are jobs being created by that.”

Providence County gained 729 jobs in the cluster between 2009 and 2013, a period in which economic trends anticipated a loss of employment.

Rhode Island has one of the country’s largest percentage of growth in new farms, organic farms and new-to-the-farm farmers, Overmoyer said.

The five industries within the cluster – crop production, animal production, food manufacturing, food sales and farm supplies merchant wholesalers – all grew jobs between 2009 and 2013. The greatest growth came in food sales, a 66 percent spike in employment.

“These are not restaurant jobs,” he said. “If you start thinking about the distribution and the production capacity, that’s what we’re looking at.”

Providence has an opportunity to continue to expand the employment in this cluster if it considers establishing a copacking facility, particularly one that is aimed at the organic market, the report concluded.

One-third of the 3,000 farms in Rhode Island and neighboring states produce or sell at least some organic products, the report states, but Rhode Island now has only three specialized copacking facilities, and only two are certified as organic.

A copacking facility is a shared facility that would allow local farmers and food manufacturers to process and package their product locally, Overmoyer said, reducing transportation costs for companies now sending products to out-of-state facilities.

The organic market, in particular, is showing strong growth in the U.S. And there appears to be an unmet need for certified, organic copacking in New England.

“There is no one that does organic meats,” he said.

If the facility could be integrated with shipping, it would open up new employment opportunities, he said. Aside from the cluster analysis, Providence officials have expressed interest in introducing refrigerated distribution space at the Port of Providence. •

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