CED through Local and Regional Food Systems: The Latest Resources

<p style="font-weight: 400">In the past year, activity around local food systems increased dramatically. Government has been involved in supporting food systems for decades, but primarily through programs adopted at the federal level to both promote food production and protect the health of consumers. But having government work with food systems as a specific vehicle of local CED efforts? Historically, perhaps not as much. This is changing, and in a major way. In fact, a significant new resource on local food system development (discussed below) was released just this morning. How can CED folks navigate all the action and take advantage of the current focus on food? Please note, this blog post is longer than normal given new resources just announced.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400">A first step for North Carolina CED professionals may be in understanding the local context of government and organizational involvement. What are the local priorities for the area food systems? They may include:</p> a business sector approach (supporting farms to processers to retail grocery stores) a geographic approach (joint city/county efforts, or government-based regional partnerships) policy development/legal approach (creating a formal structure or framework backed by government), a non-profit organizational or educational service approach (support for food banks, pantries, Meals on Wheels, or summer meals programs, for example), or an intentional mix. <p style="font-weight: 400">There is so much activity around food systems currently that, depending on the priorities for your area, there is likely a resource already in place to help. As an example of the variety of work taking place, [...]</p>