With economic, employment, and social benefits, food is much more than what we eat. Now Massachusetts has completed a comprehensive food plan in the hopes of doing better with the systems by which food is manufactured, bought, and consumed.
The Massachusetts Food Policy Council recently released the new Massachusetts Food System Plan, creating the state's first comprehensive food systems plan since 1974. The goals and recommendations of the plan discuss questions of land use, processing, food access, food security, workforce development, public health, and hunger, among others. In total, the plan recommends hundreds of specific actions.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and the Massachusetts Workforce Alliance led a public engagement process through 2014 and 2015 before releasing the new plan earlier this month.
FULL STORY: Massachusetts Food System Plan
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