Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: New England Food Vision is a story about the future of our region.Because it centers on food, it's a complicated story: it not only involves many characters, settings, and facts, but it has multiple endings-or, more precisely, alternative futures.It's a story that stretches back to the foodways of Native peoples who were devastated by European colonization and extends through the present into the future.It's a story that generates questions and choices as New Englanders decide what's important for their immediate and long-term food futures.This vision is bold in scope and aspiration.It reflects a point of view informed by two principles: first, food is a powerful determinant of all aspects of quality of life the world over, including New England.Second, New Englanders can and should pursue a future in which food nourishes a social, economic, and environmental landscape that supports a high quality of life for everyone, for generations to come.So this vision is all about our choices and the conversation, learning, and purposeful decision-making in which we as a region can participate.The story of regional collaboration in pursuit of shared food system goals defines Food Solutions New England (FSNE), a network effort to engage in dialogue, learning, and decisionmaking that will enable us to have a regional food system that works for all New Englanders, of every race-now and into the future.A New England Food Vision is a critical element in this story of regional collaboration.An early version was presented at the first FSNE New England Food Summit in 2011, where delegates from across the region asked that it be developed further.Over the next three years, the evolving vision figured prominently in a series of regional and state summits, briefings, network design meetings, and workshops that provided important feedback and built strong connections across FSNE and other networks committed to ensuring an accessible and sustainable food system.Philanthropic funders, nonprofit organizations, businesses, academic institutions, and government agencies are coalescing around the shared values of food justice, racial equity, public health, and ecological integrity.Creative and imaginative analysis, as A New England Food Vision illustrates, is illuminating pivotal public policy issues that can either stifle or nurture the seeds of a sustainable food future.The emerging network is eager to facilitate collaboration, innovation, equity, and entrepreneurship across the food system.So where do we go from here?A New England Food Vision is neither a prediction nor a plan.Its care and provision for the future are rooted in clearly articulated values and an ethic of social justice and ecological responsibility among a growing number of diverse food system stakeholders who are dedicated to building the trust that is the lifeblood of collaboration.A New England Food Vision is just beginning and will continue to be a dynamic element of a project that will live on.FSNE is committed to supporting the dialogue and a continuous learning process that will feed the reshaping of our visions and aspirations and the character of the collaborations we choose to embrace.
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2947994415