Community Food Assessment
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. - A Community-Based Food System: Building Health, Wealth, Connection, and Capacity as the Foundation of Our Economic Future
Summary of a local food system assessment and strategic planning effort initiated in 2010 for the Martinsville region of Virginia. 2011 Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 3306-9029.
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. - 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:
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 joanna_lelekacs@ncsu.edu.