Seeding Food Systems Change
An Integrated Approach to Transformation
In September, the New England Food System Planners Partnership released a detailed analysis of local food spending in New England. The report revealed that only 3.1 percent of the $120.6 billion spent on food and alcohol throughout the region is grown, raised, or made in New England. While that $2.28 billion is a feat to celebrate in and of itself, it does beg the question of what more can be done to support local and regional food in having an even greater impact and presence in communities throughout New England.
There are certainly many answers to this question, and it’s more important than ever to hold on to that complexity as solutions are dreamed, designed, and implemented. While enticing, the solution is not as straightforward as moving local and regional food from Point A to Point B and making it available on the shelves of grocery stores. An intersectional analysis, one that takes into account the generations of policies and actions that, to this day, still disenfranchise whole swaths of the population, must be at the center of any truly transformative change to the New England food system. Thankfully, significant work has already been done to analyze the complexity of that system and to develop clear calls to action that span a range of scales, from international and national institutions to regional partnerships and local communities. Decisions made across these scales all affect the construction of our local food system and should be closely examined in the development of any future food systems strategy. As shown by advocates and changemakers from the global to the local, the importance of integrated, rights-based and values-based reforms cannot be understated.
A Global Whole-Systems Approach
There is a consistent recognition of the complex web of relationships and dynamics that comprise food systems. They are political and cultural, as well as economic and ecological, which requires that food system transformation be treated holistically through an integrated approach. Internationally, the United Nations Development Programme recognizes that food systems are central to sustainability, public health, and the climate and biodiversity crises, calling for a “whole-of-government approach” to drive whole food system change. This requires ministries of agriculture, health, environment, and all others to manage the complex nature of a just transition that ensures all people have a direct say in and are adequately supported by their food system.
These “whole systems” approaches are also seen across international organizations, civil society, and indigenous networks and movements such as La Via Campesina. With a focus on those most impacted by the current state of the global food system, they bring together millions of peasants, subsistence farmers and fishers, Indigenous people, migrant farm workers, small and medium size farmers, rural women, and allies from across the world to demand deep transformative change that centers the needs and wants of those at the center. This holistic and integrated approach that calls for addressing root causes of extractive, inequitable, and unhealthy food systems through organizing around rights-based approaches to food sovereignty and agroecology, and the democratization of knowledge, is further reinforced by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s World Committee on Food Security, the High-Level Panel of Experts, and the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism.
Nationwide Policies & Initiatives
The national landscape also increasingly recognizes that food system transformation requires addressing interconnected challenges through coordinated action. The USDA’s Food Systems Transformation Framework acknowledges that challenges like climate change, environmental degradation, nutrition security, and racial equity are inextricably linked, committing to building more resilient local food systems and creating fairer markets. This approach is detailed in the USDA’s “Pathways for More Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive U.S. Food Systems,” which identifies specific leverage points: strengthening regional food systems, advancing equity and racial justice, building resilient supply chains, and creating better markets for producers.
Rights-based approaches to food system transformation are continuing to build momentum across food system advocacy work. National networks, like the Right to Food Community of Practice, are connecting policy frameworks with grassroots action by bringing together practitioners, advocates, and policymakers to advance food sovereignty, democratic control, and equitable access to resources. (Editors’ Note: See Green Amendments and the Right to Food in this issue’s Policy Desk section for additional discussion of this movement and community of practice.) Grassroots movements demonstrate how this transformation happens in practice: The Milk with Dignity program has secured binding agreements with major dairy buyers like Ben & Jerry’s to ensure living wages, fair housing, and safe working conditions for farmworkers; and the HEAL Food Alliance’s Platform for Real Food advances systemic change through their “50 by 2050” vision, calling for living wages for food chain workers while pushing for investments to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) producers. These initiatives demonstrate that meaningful food system transformation requires measuring not just where food is grown, bought, and sold, but how it advances human rights, worker dignity, and economic justice throughout the supply chain.
“while a metric like the local food count provides a good basis for understanding one aspect of the food system, using it as the indicator of progress toward a shared goal in food systems change could come at the detriment of other essential components of a just regional food system”
Coordinated Regional Efforts
This same holistic and integrated approach is also reflected at the New England regional level. A New England Food Vision, published by Food Solutions New England (FSNE) in 2014, recognized that food is a powerful determinant of all aspects of quality of life. The region can and should pursue a future in which food nourishes a social, economic, and environmental landscape that supports generations to come. Rooted in the human right to food, it calls for healthy food for all, sustainable farming and fishing, and thriving communities. FSNE has since further articulated the Vision’s guiding values to center democratic empowerment, racial equity and dignity for all, sustainability, and trust.
A participatory systems mapping project developed a high-level systems strategy to advance the New England Food Vision goals: 50 percent of food in New England would be produced in the region by 2060 and supported by aligned and equitably allocated resources, clear evidence of well-being for all, and unrestricted access to information to ensure transparency of our food system. The strategy called for activating dynamics of democratic empowerment; a new food story; and a vibrant, ecological, and equitable economy.
“transformative change happens when communities use multiple approaches to challenge existing power structures while building alternative systems rooted in justice and collective liberation”
Local Community Activation
Local communities across New England are demonstrating what holistic food system transformation looks like in practice, particularly through initiatives that fundamentally challenge conventional models of land ownership and access. Vermont’s Everytown Project works to place land in every town in trust for BIPOC stewardship through the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, explicitly rejecting traditional ownership models and centering Indigenous perspectives on land relationships. This work complements Vermont’s Land Access and Opportunity Board (LAOB), which addresses systemic barriers to land access for historically marginalized communities through policy and programmatic interventions. Together, these initiatives demonstrate that meaningful transformation requires going beyond measuring local food sales to address root causes of inequity in land access and decision-making power.
The region is also advancing food system transformation through groundbreaking policy changes that institutionalize food rights and access. Maine’s constitutional amendment establishing a right to food, alongside various food sovereignty ordinances, demonstrates how local action can fundamentally reshape the legal framework around food systems. Similarly, the successful implementation of universal free school meals in several New England states shows how policy changes can simultaneously address food access, support local agriculture, and advance equity goals. These policy innovations illustrate that transformative change happens when communities use multiple approaches to challenge existing power structures while building alternative systems rooted in justice and collective liberation.
FSNE’s “Pathway to the Vision” attempts to depict the complex road to transformative change. Read about the process behind the development of these strategies in this blog post from Curtis Ogden at the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Courtesy of Food Solutions New England
Across every community and level of governance, the calls for embracing justice as a cornerstone of any food systems work are as clear as they are loud. As these analyses and calls to actions make clear, there is no single aspect of the food system or policy goal that will adequately address the underlying structural complexity of the food system. Therefore, while a metric like the local food count provides a good basis for understanding one aspect of the food system, using it as the indicator of progress toward a shared goal in food systems change could come at the detriment of other essential components of a just regional food system.
For philanthropists, governments, NGOs, and communities to get it right, we must see the forest through the trees. The food system holds and intersects with multiple determinants of health and well-being. These include racial equity, conservation and access to open space, labor and wage policy, affordable housing, ecologically resilient landscapes, and many more. While there is a need to zero in on parts of the food system for targeted reform, like expanding value-added production or supporting farmers in efforts to access larger market channels, it is important to uphold the essential need to support, celebrate, and encourage the other work taking place to address the broad structural factors that stretch beyond individual metrics or targets. This work might look like new reparative frameworks and funding introduced in state legislatures; mutual aid efforts in rural and urban communities to help neighbors feed themselves and their families; expanded access to hunting, foraging, and fishing across the public and private landscape; or win-win systems pathways for schools to purchase from local farms. Successful transformation of the food system will be realized only when intentional and integrated approaches to change are embraced, adopted, and well funded.
The body of work contained in and connected to A New England Food Vision, New England Feeding New England, and the new Local Food Count Dashboard all point to the same conclusion—our food system must be radically reshaped to capture its full potential and to meet our shared goals. The beautiful reality is that there is no single solution and no single target that, if adopted or met, will yield the vibrant, integrated, diverse, and nourishing system we all yearn for. Rather, the transformation of New England’s food system will require embracing complexity and supporting multiple strategies at once.
Tom Kelly, Karen Nordstrom, and Shane Rogers are members of the Food Solutions New England Backbone Team, coordinating a multi-racial, regional, six-state network that is working to unite the food system around a shared set of values—democratic empowerment, racial equity and dignity for all, sustainability, and trust.
Dr. Tom Kelly founded the UNH Sustainability Institute in 1997, and served as the Executive Director and Chief Sustainability Officer of the University of New Hampshire for over 25 years. Dr. Kelly’s work focuses on sustainability as a transformative cultural force, and on the creative process of engaging its disruptive and inspirational dynamics in education, research, and practice.
Dr. Karen Nordstrom serves as the Policy Program Co-Director for Food Solutions New England (FSNE), serving as a key liaison to a cross-cutting regional policy initiative that integrates and coordinates activities, insights, strategies, and tactics across the issue areas of food, farms, forests, fisheries, and communities.
Shane Rogers is a curler, wild food enthusiast, and community organizer. He works as the Program and Communication Director for FSNE, where he strives to build equitable and just food systems through effective narrative building and collective action.