THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Land Use Planning for Sustainable Food Systems

First paragraph: A sustainable food system must be firmly rooted in the wise use of land. Fortunately, local foods initiatives increasingly involve planned uses of agricultural land. While professional planners, architects, and staff of nongovernmental organizations may all be involved, land use planning begins with decisions made by state and local governments. Effective land use planning requires a public consensus to support making land use decisions on some basis other than economic value. Such a consensus ostensibly exists in most urban areas for residential and commercial uses of land, although economic interests typically dominate actual planning and zoning decisions. Public support for planning and zoning of agricultural land in rural areas is even more tenuous. Lack of a public consensus for wise land use planning could become a major obstacle in the development of sustainable food systems, thus the need for greater understanding of the issue....