Analyzing the Foodshed Toward a More Comprehensive Foodshed Analysis

Foodshed Analysis is a tool used by researchers to measure the feasibility of providing more local food to a community. That there are economic, environmental, and societal benefits provided by eating locally produced food is a central assumption of Foodshed Analysis research. These benefits, however, are not inherent to a localized food system, but instead are goals that local food system participants must work to achieve. Foodshed Analysis may be a helpful tool that can be used to advise food system reform to the benefit of a community’s economy, environment, and society, but, in order for this tool to be effective, communities and researchers must move beyond over-valuing proximity and embrace the complicated nature of food systems. Foodshed Analysis researchers also need to address the problems of scale, boundaries, and variables that currently confound their studies. At this stage, Foodshed Analysis researchers have an opportunity to discuss how Foodshed Analysis can be most effective. This paper explores an application of Foodshed Analysis that respects and acknowledges the complexity of the issues it tackles, so that it can provide a comprehensive approach to analyzing, and perhaps improving