introduction
A community’s food system influences everything from jobs and public health to air and water quality. Individuals interested in fostering a healthy, resilient community enter the conversation about local food from different entry points, reflecting their different concerns and areas of expertise. Different entry points, or gateways, can categorically represent these various avenues that lead people to consider the where, what, why, when, and how of a food system. Building working relationships and balancing stakeholder interests are fundamental for this exploration of common ground, and a community food assessment can help further productive community conversations about its assets, needs, and opportunities. Concord presents an exemplary case of various stakeholders joining forces in the interest of maintaining a healthy community. Citizens are beginning this exciting process of integrating conversations—regarding land use and development patterns, history and culture, education, economic vitality, public health and nutrition, social justice, and ecological health—as they relate to food.
THE GOOD FOOD VISION The Good Food Vision is the result of a study conducted by local historian, farmer, and professor Brian Donahue that projects food needs for the six states of New England in 2060 and outlines the major changes required to meet these needs by optimizing regional food production. Donahue argues that by collectively adopting a healthier diet and increasing food production (especially more fruit, vegetables, some meat and dairy, and beans), New England could potentially meet up to eighty percent of the nutritional needs of its projected population (seventeen million people) in 2060. In order to do this, New England must triple its current acreage of farmland. This means restoring about fifteen percent of New England’s land to agricultural use, similar to the percentage of New England’s farmland around 1945. How can Concord contribute to this progressive, longrange vision for a healthier New England food system?
“We might do well to recreate a regional food system resembling the one we had a century ago, when we at least provided a large part of our own vegetables, fruits, milk, and eggs, along with some of our meat.” —Donahue, Reclaiming the Commons, 74
Concord community members come together to brainstorm about Concord’s assets and needs pertaining to local food. 2
Concord, Massachusetts