Literature Review Summary

The Dane County Food System Action Plan was developed on a foundation of research into existing food system assessments, regional food plans, and peer-reviewed literature. Prior to community engagement, the Project Team conducted an extensive literature review that analyzed dozens of reports on local and regional food systems with particular focus on Dane County’s agricultural, economic, and social context. 

Review of Food Plans

The Project Team began the literature review process by gathering contemporary food plans from other cities. One key resource was the article Planning the foodshed: Rural and peri-urban factors in local food strategies of major cities in Canada and the United States, which provided initial insight into other areas of the country that have undertaken similar efforts. 

Through this research, the following community food system plans were identified:

These plans provided insight into the different ways of communicating about food systems, how to organize context and recommendations, and the formatting and graphic design methods to make the information accessible while providing the necessary context. This also allowed for comparative understanding of different frameworks that could be used to inform the Project Team’s shared understanding of the Dane County food system.

The review led to an initial outline of the Food System Action Plan and informed the organizing principles of the community engagement process. It also led to the development of the Dane County Food System Action Plan webpage that would serve as the hub for project updates and public communication during the planning process and ultimately as an interactive home to the content of the final plan.

SWOT Analysis

Beyond municipal food plans, a variety of other reports and resources were used to enhance the Project Team’s understanding of local food system conditions in a variety of sectors in Dane County and beyond. These materials are listed below. 

To process this large volume of information, the Project Team developed a comprehensive Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis across the sectors of the food system, and became the analytical backbone of the planning process. The SWOT analysis served multiple functions:

  • Establishing a shared understanding of Dane County’s food system assets and vulnerabilities before beginning the community engagement process, ensuring that engagement activities were designed to test, deepen, and challenge the picture emerging from the literature.
  • Developing themes to inform the goals, strategies, and actions presented in this plan. 
  • Organizing of supplementary materials used in the community engagement process, such as community engagement presentations.
  • Providing the evidentiary grounding for the existing conditions narrative.
  • Identifying key questions for the community engagement process.

Together, the literature review, SWOT analysis, and research process gave the Project Team an evidence-based starting point—grounded in both national research and local conditions—from which to design the community engagement process. This allowed for the development of a Food System Action Plan reflective of Dane County’s unique food system context, challenges, and aspirations.

References

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