"Digging Deeper: New Thinking on 'Regional'"

In a 2018 column, DIGGING DEEPER: Bringing a systems approach to food systems, authors Kate Clancy and Kathryn Z. Ruhf argued for the value of regional thinking and the regional scale in food systems work. They pointed out that local food has resonated with the public, producers, and marketers, and that it has inspired many supportive public policies.  But noting some of the drawbacks of the focus on localits varied definitions and its shortcomings as a framework for sustainable and resilient food systemsthey then described how the regional scale can play an essential role in meeting the food needs of a population.

Clancy and Ruhf note that regions also play an important role in sustaining food chain participants and the natural resource base in the face of environmental, social, economic, and climate uncertainty. "To us, 'regional' signifies a substantial volume and variety of products that can more fully address demand when compared with 'local foods.'" Regional implies a larger scale, often multistate, but is not strictly limited to a radius or state boundary. Read the full article

KEY POINTS

• To significantly advance many sustainable agri-food system objectives, regional and thinking regionally need distinction and attention. If these terms are conflated, we lose its place, power, and potential to achieve our overall vision as well as to implement practical strategies.
• If greater food self-reliance (not self-sufficiency) is a goal, then attention at the regional level is essential to advance the ability of any area to utilize its land and other resources to maintain and enhance productive farms and farm access, and to feed more of its residents.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY,  PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH

Many experts have pointed out that resilient systems must exist at multiple scales. There is a need for integrated strategies that could foster resilience across scales. This means that people must work, or at least think, across scales. They must recognize what each scale literally brings to the table and where their vulnerabilities are. Clancy and Ruhf point out the need for platforms and suites of practices that will be adapted to scale and context, in part because the cross-scale and multi-sited nature of food systems presents multiple challenges. These arguments are diminished, if not lost, if local and regional scales are conflated.