What is a community food system?

A community food system is a collaborative effort to promote sustainable food production, processing, distribution and consumption in order to enhance the environmental, economic and social health of a particular place. Farmers, consumers and communities are partnering to create more locally based, self-reliant food economies. One of the most important aspects of these community projects is that they increase resident participation to achieve the following goals:

• Improved access by all community members to an adequate, affordable, nutritious diet;
• A stable base of family farms that uses less chemical and energy-intensive production practices and emphasizes local inputs;
• Marketing and processing practices that create more direct links between farmers and consumers;
• Food and agriculture-related businesses that create jobs and recirculate financial capital within the community;
• Improved living and working conditions for farm and food system labor; and
• Creation of food and agriculture policies that promote local or sustainable food production, processing and consumption.