Planning for Local Food and Farms

Many municipalities, organizations, states and regions are including local food and farms in their plans for the future. Here are a few recent examples of plans and tools for planning that are relevant to our region.

Planning for a geographic region

Community-Wide Plans

American Farmland Trust’s Cost of Community Services studies, for example, have examined the fiscal contribution of different types of land use, including agriculture, in several Pioneer Valley communities.

In the Berkshires, several communities are working together on “Keep Berkshires Farming,” a project that prioritizes wide community engagement, and in Franklin County, a Farmland and Foodshed Study was completed in 2012.

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission completed a Valley-wide Food Security Plan with twin goals: “No one goes hungry. We grow our own food.”

State-Wide Plans

Find the Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan, shepherded by the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, here.

Regional Plans

In the New England region, a group of food system advocates is refining a New England Food Vision which outlines changes in diet and land use that could allow New England to produce up to 70% of its food by 2060.

Focus-Area Planning

Planning for local food can also be approached through the lens of a particular sector or resource.

Land

Since farmland is a limited and essential resource for farming in New England, planning related to land protection and access is especially important. Land for Good and Equity Trust are two New England-based organizations that have developed tools for farmland protection that allow farm business owners or families, towns, regions, or land trusts to plan for farmland protection that also prioritizes access, affordability, and secure access for farmers.

The New England Sustainable Farming Project has developed a mapping tool that makes it easier to identify tracts of land suitable for farming and helps communities, farmers and landowners find each other and develop appropriate protocols for leasing and land use.

Jobs

The Massachusetts Workforce Alliance completed a study of a study of job creation in the local food system, Local Food, Local Jobs: Job Growth and Creation in the Pioneer Valley Food System. Based on interviews with a wide variety of farms and food businesses, the report outlines the kinds of jobs currently being created in the food system and describes training options which could help low-skill workers access those positions.