Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-21-2022
Department
Department of Social Sciences
Abstract
This research analyzes the emergent collaborative governance of local food systems (LFS) development in a six-county region of Michigan’s Western Upper Peninsula, a post-industrial mining region with a long history of local food provisioning. We contribute to scholarship on rural food systems by framing LFS development as a social good, benefiting placemaking and long-term economic development. We use a community-based research case study and policy analysis to identify policy-related gaps, including LFS’ low legitimacy, goal divergence among different jurisdictions, and lack of regional leadership. LFS development may present ways for rural communities to foster placemaking and economic development; however, we find that LFS are less visible and not always on the policy agenda of local governments. In this study, collaborations among grassroots actors and organizations outside of local government are leading LFS development. We conclude that collaborative governance may have a better chance to succeed when LFS have a clear public identity and legitimacy as a social good, partners reach goal consensus, and appropriate leaderships are formed.
Publication Title
Community Development
Recommended Citation
Lu, H.,
&
Carter, A.
(2022).
Emergent regional collaborative governance in rural local food systems development.
Community Development.
http://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2022.2135550
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/16619
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2022.2135550