Product, Market, and Issue Briefs
The core of the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan will consist of 27 briefs covering the products, markets, and issues that are pivotal to a thriving food system in New Hampshire. Each brief will address a specific topic through the lenses of farm viability and equity — current status, barriers, opportunities, and 3-5 specific recommendations from the authors on how to improve, advance, or address the challenges stated in each brief.
Brief recommendations will be grouped by geographic scope (national, regional, state, and county/city/town) and by sphere of influence (who has the power to take action on the recommendation) to create clear paths for action to enact change across our food system. Please view the list of brief topics below, organized into products, markets, and issues. Input from the NH Food Alliance network and food system stakeholders will inform the products, markets, and issues covered, as well as who will contribute to each brief, what issues are important to consider, what information is critical to include, and how to categorize final recommendations.
BRIEF TRACKER: PUBLIC COMMENT
Each brief below is currently being developed by a team of subject matter experts. The preliminary draft will be shared here and open for 30 days of public comment. Review the draft and provide comments via the links below as they become available. After the close of the public comment period, Lead Authors on each brief will make any changes they need necessary based upon the comments provided.
Special opportunity for comment! Provide comments on the Opening and Overarching Recommendations of the NH Food & Agriculture Strategic Plan.
The Opening pages will provide context for how and why the strategic plan was created. The Overarching Recommendations are themes and recommendations that transcended brief topics and were conclusions drawn by multiple subject matter experts while writing each brief. We have synthesized these persistent topics into an overarching list of themes and recommendations as another way to understand some of the most pressing needs of our food system and how we can continue to address farm, fish, and food business viability and cross cutting structural equity issues. Review the document and provide comments linked in the first row of the brief tracker below.
| OVERARCHING CONTENT | Draft Comment Period | Provide Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Pages & Overarching Recommendations | Available now through 2/6/25 | Provide comments |
| Brief Topic | Brief Type | Draft Comment Period | Provide Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access to Capital | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Agritourism | Issue | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide comments |
| Animal Feed | Product | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Climate Resilience & Disaster Relief | Issue | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide Comments |
| Craft Beverages | Product | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Dairy | Product | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Direct to Consumer & Consumer Education | Market | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Farm Business Technical Assistance | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Farmland Conservation, Access & Succession | Issue | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide comments |
| Food Hubs & Collaborative Marketing | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Food Systems Literacy, Early Childhood and School-Aged Children | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Food Waste | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Fruit & Vegetables | Product | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide Comments |
| Grocery Stores & Food Cooperatives | Market | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Home & Community Gardens | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Institutional Markets | Market | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Labor & Workforce | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Land Use Planning | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Meat & Eggs | Product | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Nutrition Access & Security | Issue | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide Comments |
| Production Techniques for Sustainable Ecosystems | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Restaurants | Market | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Seafood | Product | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Soil & Water | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Other Products: Honey, Seeds, Wild & Foraged, Mushrooms, Food Grade Grains, Syrup | Product | Available now through 1/22/2025 | Provide Comments |
| Supporting Future & Beginning Farmers | Issue | The public comment period is closed. | |
| Value Added Processing & Co-Manufacturing | Issue | The public comment period is closed. |
