Integrate Agriculture & Climate Resilience
Integrate Local Food, Agriculture, and Climate Resilience into City, School, Community Planning and Economic Development Strategies
The Big Why
Municipal and educational systems, as well as the planning and development strategies they initiate and implement, give rise to the structure, form, and the future of communities. To engender a strong and mutually beneficial food system for all means that local food and agriculture must be considered in community, institutional, and system-wide strategies. With increasing climate instability, including more frequent natural disasters and food supply chain disruptions, it is also imperative to lift up and integrate climate resilience into community planning efforts, particularly as it relates to the ability to continue to produce and procure food for the region. Furthermore, the future of local agriculture depends on young people engaging with their source of food as a means to nourish their bodies, cultivate a deeper appreciation and understanding of the process of growing food, and foster an appreciation and enjoyment of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Over the last fifteen years, the cities of Lewiston and Auburn have pursued a number of key planning processes focused on City revitalization as well as the role and potential future of farming and food hubs in economic development. The first Local Foods Action Plan Lewiston Auburn (originally known as Local Foods Local Places) sought to capitalize on the momentum of previous plans and more intentionally integrate local food and agriculture into upcoming planning efforts. LFAP Coordinators, the Good Food Council of Lewiston Auburn and the Nutrition Center, along with community champions successfully advocated for inclusion of food access and agriculture in the City of Auburn’s updated 2021-2031 Comprehensive Plan, the only new “chapter” in the Plan approved in late 2021: “Promoting Food Access and Growing Auburn’s Agriculture Economy.” Among its many goals, the Local Food section of the plan charts out a course to improve Auburn City zoning and ordinances in service of strengthening food and farm enterprises of all sizes and the ability to grow food for self-sufficiency; simplify or remove regulation of food- and farm-related land uses in order to improve the variety and availability of healthy food outlets; support development of community food assets such as markets and community gardens in partnership with community stakeholders; foster the creation of local food processing; and improve and remove barriers for transportation to local food outlets. The City of Auburn’s’ Food Access and Agricultural chapter in the Comprehensive Plan compliments many of the actions outlined in the updated LFAP LA plan and vice versa. LFAP LA will continue to serve as a bridge to connect the work happening hyper-locally within each City to what is happening across the region as a whole.
Other key milestones in food and farming were made in Auburn helping to strengthen the region’s local food system. Following 8 years of an energized and sometimes fraught public and municipal process to update the City of Auburn’s unique Agriculture and Resource Protection AGRP zone, long debated changes were finally implemented in the summer of 2023. The compromise allowed for continued protection of approximately 40% of Auburn’s land mass (20,000 acres) from encroaching development pressures amidst the ongoing housing crisis. The original intent of the AGRP was to limit public costs for providing services, contain development to downtown and along major roadways, and to encourage agricultural, timber, and natural resource protection and uses. With a percentage of farms across Maine having been identified as contaminated with PFAS—more than 60 as of Spring of 2024—ensuring viable, contaminant-free farmland remains undeveloped is not only critical to the region’s food system but to the state as well. This AGRP outcome would not have been achieved had it not been for thoughtful advocacy and engagement undertaken to ensure farmers and other stakeholders were involved in the planning and decision-making related to Auburn’s farmland policy. These efforts helped to foster greater awareness and movement around the protection of Auburn’s vital agricultural farmlands. More opportunity remains to continue to build awareness and center the importance of the region’s agricultural potential and vital resources.
Similarly, robust energy, effort, and care has gone into fostering a culture of developing systems and structures to support healthier eating and deeper connection to fresh, grown and prepared food for children across Auburn and Lewiston schools. All of Lewiston’s and 5 Auburn elementary schools receive federal financial assistance to help children from low-income families through the Title 1 program and nearly 30% of Lewiston students are English Language Learners. This not only highlights a critical need of the community but an opportunity to introduce fresh, healthy local, and culturally preferred foods through school lunches. In 2024, Full Plates Full Potential awarded the Auburn School District funds for a School-Based Food Hub that will establish a collaborative, regional, school food processing and distribution hub in the Lewiston Auburn area. This hub will increase the schools’ capacity to purchase in and prepare raw fruits and vegetables from local farmers and transform them into fresh cooked meals. Beyond the cafeteria, children at Lewiston schools have had key opportunities to learn about, prepare, and enjoy food they have grown themselves.
For the past 12 years, the Nutrition Center has been partnering with schools and FoodCorps to build sustainable garden and nutrition education programs with the goal of reaching every child in Lewiston schools. Five learning gardens have been created across 4 elementary schools and 1 middle school helping to foster thousands of hours of garden and cooking education for children. Similarly, Healthy Androscoggin offers a number of supports and direct education opportunities to schools in Auburn and Lewiston and across Androscoggin County. Programs include a series-based curriculum by staff tailored to each grade level including activities such as discovery of new food, learning about a new seasonal fruit or vegetable in the early grades and participating in a cooking series in the older grades.
Schools play a vital role in food access for children and in their food experiences, growth, and long-term outcomes. School-based local food and nutrition work is new to this most recent iteration of the Local Foods Action Plan LA but was a natural fit given the milestones achieved, opportunities and work on the horizon, and the important role schools play in both food security and connecting young people to local food. Leads participating in the work will be able to continue to develop and deepen connections through regular convenings and explore future collaborations to strengthen their impact.
The Actions We Will Take
Facilitate strong local food and agriculture municipal policy |
This goal is active and progress is being made towards achieving it.
Increase local, Cultural and Halal foods in the schools |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Integrate garden and nutrition education in schools |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Increase scratch Cooking in the schools |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Foster municipal protection and support of local farms |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Advocate for comprehensive plans inclusive of food and agriculture |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Build a future generation of farmers across cultures and communities |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Identify and advocate municipal climate action priorities |
This action is appearing in our plan for the first time, it just sprouted.
Improving City Rules that Support Urban Agriculture
Shelley Norton, of the Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn (GFCLA) and Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments (AVCOG), shares about work GFCLA has been doing to advance the community-driven goals and actions in the Local Foods, Local Places Action Plan for...