This page links to resources that support development of community food assessments. Examples of existing North Carolina assessments are also included.

• Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit
  Resource developed through USDA Economic Research Service providing a toolkit of standardized measurement tools for assessing various aspects of community food security. 2002.
• Community-based food system assessment and planning(Facilitator’s Guidebook)
  Publication serves as a guidebook for facilitators assessing and planning community-based food systems. It provides a process for gathering stakeholders using the “Community Capitals Framework” (Flora, Flora, and Fey 2003) and assessing community food systems. 2011 Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 3108-9029.

Example North Carolina Food Assessments

• Statewide – From Farm to Fork: State Action Guide 
  From 2008-2009, 1,000-plus individuals participated in the CEFS’ Farm to Fork initiative. They contributed their experiences, ideas and vision to develop a guide for action focused on a local food economy for NC.
• EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Food and Farm Assessment, 2019. Covers the EmPOWER Region of Jackson, Macon, Haywood, Swain, Cherokee, Clay, and Graham Counties. The Assessment was written by ASAP.
• Rutherford County Baseline Food Assessment, 2019. Covers Rutherfod, Polk, and McDowell counties. Written by Taylor Burch for Rutherford-Polk-McDowell District Health Department
• Food and Farm Assessment for a Five-County Region in the Southern Appalachians: Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes, and Johnson County, 2012
• Local Food and Farm Assessment: Avery, Rutherford, and Yancey Counties, 2013
• Healthy, Fresh, Local Food: An Action Plan for Increasing Availability and Access in Beaufort County, NC
• 14-County Greater Charlotte Region – CONNECT Our Future
  • Action Plan for Food Systems Improvement, January 2014.
  • Food Systems Assessment Report, July 2014.
• Food and Farm Assessment: Clay County, North Carolina, 2011
• Forsyth County‘s Community Food System: A Foundation to Grow, 2013
• Local Food System Assessment for McDowell County, NC, 2015
• Triangle Farms for Food: Strategy + Action Plan, 2015
• Western Region Assessments, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project:
  • Growing Local: Expanding the Western North Carolina Food and Farm Economy Full Report, 2007
  • Growing Local: Implications for Western North Carolina, 2007
  • Growing Local: Expanding the Western North Carolina Food and Farm Economy Analysis, 2007

If your North Carolina community has completed a food system assessment that you would like to share here, please email the title of the assessment and a link to hannah_dankbar@ncsu.edu.