Date of Award

5-2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP)

Legacy Department

City and Regional Planning

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dyckman, Caitlin

Committee Member

Kunkel , Beth

Committee Member

London , James

Abstract

Are Farm to School Programs being utilized by communities as a component of agricultural sustainability? This initial question led to a larger inquiry as to what agricultural sustainability tools communities are incorporating, with Farm to School Programs as a component, and what roles, or potential roles, planners are playing in program creation and implementation. A literature review of the current food system, sustainability threats imbedded within the system, and the potential for local food system planning, specifically Farm to School Programs, to overcome these threats provided a framework for research on the agricultural sustainability tools being planned for within communities and roles planners may be playing in program creation and implementation. Two surveys, one to planners in communities whose mayor voluntarily signed the U.S. Mayors' Climate Action Plan Agreement and one to planners in communities with a known Farm to School Program, were implemented to answer the posed research questions. Findings indicated that while the American Planning Association is advocating food system planning and agricultural sustainability, many communities are still not implementing these practices. Farm to School Programs are not widely planned for specifically, but some communities are incorporating agricultural tools that indirectly help to create and sustain the programs. These tools may provide the needed support for future inclusion of the programs within a planning document.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.