Making plans for the next few days in Boston, attending ICMA’s Annual Conference? I always appreciate stumbling upon a farmers market when visiting another community, for a chance to sample the local culture in addition to the local produce. Conveniently, Boston’s Office of Food Initiatives provides a calendar of food-related events, including markets, happening across the city.

And yes—that’s the Office of Food Initiatives, a municipal department charged with long-term, comprehensive goals such as increasing food access for all residents and expanding local food production, distribution and consumption, in the name of promoting economic development and a healthier city. To someone interested in exploring opportunities for local governments to support food systems, that’s a pretty inspiring model.

I’m also inspired by reports from many of you, and the connections your communities are making to and through food issues. Last year, when the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems partnered with ICMA to conduct a national survey on local governments’ food-related activities, we were excited to receive nearly 2,000 responses from across the country. We generated a rich set of baseline data on food-related policies, programs, plans, partnerships and more.

While results show that municipalities and counties are engaging with their food systems in innovative and wide-ranging ways, a handful of communities questioned the need for local governments to get involved. It’s not an unreasonable question, and we also understand that the term “food system”–as in, the people, processes and places involved in getting food from the point of production to your plate–is not necessarily common parlance.

But food systems from a global to local scale connect with many issues that are more immediately concerning to local governments—things like infrastructure, land use management, the local economy and family security. And while there are certainly many individuals and entities more directly involved with producing, distributing and consuming food, local governments’ plans, policies and investments present opportunities to influence the systems’ impacts on a community’s social, economic and environmental health.

If your community has started to explore these opportunities, or if you’re interested in hearing what others are (and are not) doing around the country, including what federal programs can be leveraged to support food system development, consider attending Monday afternoon’s roundtable, “Local Food Systems and Local Government,” at the ICMA conference (4-5 pm, room 308). We’ll share some survey findings and other resources—maybe even something from a Boston farmers market!—and invite participants to share their successes, challenges and questions.

Whether or not you can join us in Boston, we welcome additional perspectives on how we can support local governments in partnering to develop healthy, equitable and resilient food systems. Leave a comment here or contact me directly!

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Related resources:

Local Government Support for Food Systems: Themes and Opportunities from National Data (also see Local Government Support for Food System Development: An Initial Scan of the Landscape, published in ICMA’s 2013 Municipal Year Book), highlights from the 2012 survey

Key Findings from the 2013 National Food Hub Survey, just-released data on a very hot topic! (also see: Zoning Lessons Learned Regarding Food Hubs)

Food Innovation Districts: An Economic Gardening Tool, a guide for local governments, planners, economic developers and community advocates on growing food-oriented business clusters

Evaluating Economic Impacts of Local and Regional Food Systems, an ongoing collaboration between CRFS, the Union of Concerned Scientists and a national team of economists