A Regional Imperative: The Case for Regional Food Systems
A special report published by the Lyson Center

This final report explores the concepts, practices, challenges, and promise of regional food systems. Authors Kathryn Z. Ruhf and Kate Clancy make the case for “thinking regionally,” drawing examples from the Northeast and across the U.S. Eight chapters take a wide perspective on the dimensions and attributes of regional food systems and identify challenges and suggestions for what is needed.

The authors collaborated with a diverse Discussion Team to strengthen the initial report, which had been released in January 2022, around race and equity. The team process was, in team members’ words, “meaningful, informative, and worthwhile.” In their foreword to the report, they contend that “the report is a well-researched and reasoned approach to understanding and promoting regional food systems thinking, with a focus on social justice and equity.”

A Regional Imperative: Making the Case for Regional Food Systems, released September 20, 2022, is valuable to anyone involved in food systems, and an important contribution to the collective search for food system justice and sustainability.

The executive summary, the full report, and the authors' reflection ("What We Learned") are available. The reflection was published as a commentary in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) in August 2023.

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Want to share this report? Use the permanent link (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5304/lyson.2022.001