ENHANCING FOOD SECURITY BY CULTIVATING RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEMS AND COMMUNITIES: PLACE-BASED FOODSHED ANALYSIS RESEARCH TO COMMUNITY PRACTICE

Emerging trends in the market suggest we are ready to entertain more local-regional food systems from nutritional, public health, community-food, and sustainable agricultural perspectives, yet significant food access issues remain that impact the reach and success of local food systems. The popularity of local food systems and sustainable farming is on the rise among Americans, and in particular, among Virginians, North Carolinians, and West Virginians. A thriving local food system can improve children's health, reconnect us to the land, allow farmers to prosper, and attract new farmers to agriculture. While the word local implies geographic proximity, there is little consensus on its meaning. Local can refer to an area within a radius of 50 or 100 miles from the place where food is consumed, or it can be defined using a foodshed framework which describes the flow of food from areas where it is grown to where it is consumed. This framework allows us to better identify and map value chain relationships based on place-based indicators, measures, and networks; thus, it opens new possibilities for strengthening the local food system. Yet the current food system still presents barriers to those with limited financial resources regarding access to sufficient food, much less high quality locally grown food. We need to connect impoverished communities to healthier, locally grown food. Insights learned from both farmers' and consumers' needs have raised awareness of ways to get locally produced, healthy food into everyone's household. The South Atlantic Appalachian Region (SAAR) has historically struggled with high levels of food insecurity and economic instability. A network of university and non-governmental organizations are addressing these issues in several disadvantaged communities across the region through local food system research, education, and extension programs. Drawing upon a holistic 'foodshed' framework, the goal of this project is to strengthen, sustain, and expand the SAAR foodshed of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina with the aim of improving food security and local-regional food economies. The project objectives center on developing, implementing, and evaluating a 'Foodshed Security' strategy to enhance the resiliency of the regional foodshed, with special focus on local food access and affordability using place-based measures and community-based practices. This innovative capacity-building strategy specifically comprises a participatory system dynamics framework for regional foodshed modeling; a community-based participatory research process for food system situational analysis and evaluation; and collaborative program design and implementation framework for proposed foodshed security intervention programs and transdisciplinary graduate curriculum with university, extension, non-governmental, and community stakeholders at the local-regional level. Project activities and outcomes will improve food security and food economies within the target region, and advance knowledge of the vulnerabilities, barriers, and opportunities related to food system research, education, and extension-based best practices.