In all three cities, policy recommendations were produced by a cross-disciplinary efforts of farmers, food producers, consumers, business owners, environmental activists, and health advocates aimed at building a healthy and economically thriving food system for all local resident.
According to Peyton, the need for such integrated planning is emerging throughout the country: "The timing is right. Rural economies are in desperate need of support from urban markets, and planners are beginning to break through the barriers between urban and rural communities, caused in part by expanding urban development that threatens farmland and the natural resources that support foodsheds."
