Prepared by Casey McNichols, James Harren, and Hikaru Hanawa Peterson
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Key findings
Support for local food systems
- Local market channels serve as critical outlets for equitable access to healthy foods.
- COVID-19 showcased the need/demand for functioning local supply chains.
- Small and mid-sized farms tend to grow specialty crops and are more diverse.
- Long-term planning and investment in supply chains and farmers can be a direct economic driver.
- Other states and regions can provide examples of systematic planning and community engagement strategies to support local and regional food systems.
Food safety implementation on small farms
- Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)/Good Handling Practices (GHP) audits, and licensing pose barriers for small farms.
- Streamlined food safety requirements, education, and funding can help. Preliminary research shows that cottage food laws have led to economic growth.
- Continued analysis and development of risk management systems is needed.
Improved data collection needed
- Hard to identify trends for specialty crops and small/mid-sized farms in available data.
- Emerging farmers not accurately represented in the Census of Agriculture.
- Local/regional supply chains, ability to stratify analysis, and collection consistency.
- Lack of data prevents producers from accessing capital, insurance, and market opportunities.
- Data can guide investment and support more efficient program development and services.
