Plan Overview

GoalTacticsTags
1. Develop and support programs and campaigns to help consumers understand how eating locally strengthens our economy, improves our well-being, and protects our rural landscapes and unique New Hampshire heritage.Short-term: Gather information to better understand New Hampshire residents and their perception of, and attitudes toward, the food system; identify existing efforts geared toward consumer education in the state.
Mid-term: Support, enhance, and coordinate efforts to educate consumers, food buyers, and retailers about food production and fisheries in New Hampshire; support education efforts focused on raising community awareness of the values and needs of farming and fishing businesses to reduce conflicts and over-regulation at the municipal level; promote educational strategies that enhance fresh food preparation skills and nutrition understanding.
Long-term: Create a culture that values local food through a statewide creative communications and education campaign that includes storytelling, music, art, and celebration, while making New Hampshire food system data easily accessible and understandable.		Culture Shift (Good Food Movement); Good/Local Food Economies; Public Messaging & Marketing; Local Brand Promotion;

2. Make business and financial planning assistance readily available and accessible to all New Hampshire producers, fishermen, and food entrepreneurs.
Short-term: Gather information to improve our understanding of the factors that affect long-term profitability of farms and food businesses and identify gaps in support services to entrepreneurs.
Mid-term: Enhance coordination of, and expand resources for, business and financial education providers and programs that support farm and fishing operators.
Long-term: Create a business and economic development climate that recognizes farm, fish, and food enterprises as key components of New Hampshire’s overall community and economic development objectives.
Agriculture & Food Production; Farm & Producer Business Support; Good/Local Food Economies; Small Business Support;
GoalTacticsTags

3. Develop and expand diverse, reliable, and profitable market channels for farmers, fishermen, and food entrepreneurs.		<!–td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}–>

Short-term: Create and facilitate new and strategic connections with institutional and retail markets
Mid-term: Promote and support existing efforts to brand local products (e.g., NH Made, NH Seafood); coordinate information about producers and products around the state to make it easier for institutions and retailers to readily find and procure local food options; facilitate and support development of Food Aggregation & Food Hubs and distribution enterprises to conveniently and efficiently connect local food producers and buyers.
Long-term: Seek legislation to establish a “buy local” policy for the purchase of New Hampshire or New England grown products by state institutions and agencies. Dedicating some food purchases towards local and regionally produced foods would promote job growth and ensure that money spent by New Englanders is promoting the regional economy.		<!–td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}–>
Good/Local Food Economies; Local brand promotion; Public Procurement; Regional Coordination; Small Business Support; Producer market access; Local Brand Promotion; Agriculture & Food Production; Farm & Producer Business Support;


4. Assist producers and food entrepreneurs in meeting the production and distribution demands of diverse market channels.
Short-term: Enhance the capacity of UNH Cooperative Extension and other entities to provide technical assistance to new and experienced farmers and fishermen related to production, value-added processing, and meeting regulatory demands of wholesale markets.
Mid-term: Support efforts by food system entrepreneurs to form and operate cooperatives or other innovative approaches to aggregating products, to facilitate sales in the face of growing food industry consolidation.
Long-term: Improve the distribution infrastructure for local foods. Support efforts by food system entrepreneurs to create and form innovative approaches to distribution infrastructure for local food.
Agriculture & Food Production; Farm & Producer Business Support; Workforce Development; Entrepreneurship; Producer market access; Supply Chain Infrastructure; Good/Local Food Economies;
GoalTacticsTags

5. Consumers of all ages, ethnicities, and income levels will have convenient access to, and can afford, locally produced foods.
Short-term: Create and facilitate new and strategic connections with institutional and retail markets
Mid-term: Promote and support existing efforts to brand local products (e.g., NH Made, NH Seafood); coordinate information about producers and products around the state to make it easier for institutions and retailers to readily find and procure local food options; facilitate and support development of Food Aggregation & Food Hubs and distribution enterprises to conveniently and efficiently connect local food producers and buyers.
Long-term: Seek legislation to establish a “buy local” policy for the purchase of New Hampshire or New England grown products by state institutions and agencies. Dedicating some food purchases towards local and regionally produced foods would promote job growth and ensure that money spent by New Englanders is promoting the regional economy.
Food Security; Food Availability (retailers); Food Access (consumer); Public Procurement; Purchasing Power (consumers); Good/Local Food Economies;
GoalTacticsTags


6. Support, create, and implement uniform policies and programs that conserve and maintain the agricultural use of prime and locally important agricultural land and soil, as well as marine resources, throughout the state.

Short-term: Improve coordination and connection between land trusts, producer, harvester, and conservation organizations, and state and federal agencies as a way to develop innovative strategies for maintaining farmland and sea access, while enhancing soil, water, and marine ecosystem health.
Mid-term: Support and expand policies and strategies that maintain or expand the availability of prime agricultural land and soils (e.g., Current Use assessment, Right to Farm, Agricultural Commissions, Agricultural Lands Program); advocate for policies that support our local fishing and aquaculture industries.
Long-term: Make more money available to maintain farmland, improve soil health, and sustainably manage and monitor our local fishing and aquaculture industries.

Land & Resource Use; Preserving Farmland; Farmland zoning and regulations; Financing/Affordability, Land; Land Access; Oceans and Waterways;

7. Support, create, and implement policies and programs that help new and existing farm businesses gain secure access to, and afford, farmland.
Short-term: Support and create farm seeker and land transfer programs that integrate land, business, and human resources support to assist farmers in accessing secure tenure and/or acquiring farmland.
Mid-term: Promote state policy that increases land available to farmers through support of state funding for farmland conservation, and advocating for tax incentives that encourage landowners to lease/ rent their land to farmers; educate state authorities about the contributions of sustainable aquaculture production and techniques to prevent overregulation that reduces viability by raising costs.
Long-term: Support changes to property tax structures to make owning and investing in farmland and agricultural enterprises affordable.
Agriculture & Food Production; Farm & Producer Business Support; Land Access;
Preserving Farmland;
Financing/Affordability, Land;
Farmland zoning and regulations;
GoalTacticsTags


8. Reciprocal Licensing

Identify barriers that make selling agricultural products across state lines unnecessarily difficult, and adopt reciprocal licensing that would allow producers in New England to more easily sell products throughout the region.


Good/Local Food Economies; Regional Coordination; Producer market access;


9. Leveraging Federal Funds		Identify and take advantage of underutilized federal and matching funds that can be used to protect farmland and support local food sales in the region.
Good Food Governance; Land Access; Regional Coordination;
Preserving Farmland; Good/Local Food Economies;

10. Buy New England Campaign		Branding New England produced and processed products is one way to increase local sales, keeping money circulating within the regional economy. This would ultimately increase revenue and support local businesses, and allow consumers to see themselves as stewards within their communities.
Good/Local Food Economies; Local brand promotion; Small Business Support; Regional Coordination;

Plan Information

CategoryDatabase entry
Plan RegionNew Hampshire
Publication Date2015
Entry reviewed by original authorYes
PDF attachmentView Full Report
Plan TitleFarm, Fish, & Food Enterprise Viability in New Hampshire
Webpagehttps://www.nhfoodalliance.org/resource/farm-fish-food-enterprise-viability-initiative
Author(s)New Hampshire Food Alliance, coordinated by the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire
Author Type University; Network
Region Type State
Funding Sources Foundations; Individual Donors; State University
FundersThe John Merck Fund, The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, The Kendall Foundation, Share our Strength, Jane’s Trust, NH Children’s Health Foundation, and the UNH Sustainability Institute
Total Project BudgetApproximately $150,000 annually plus in kind funding from UNH
Plan GoalsThe Alliance outlines 5 central goals and four overarching strategies to realize their vision:
1. People understand that their local food choices support thriving businesses, healthy communities, and vibrant working landscapes;
2. Everyone has access to healthy, affordable, and culturally diverse food;
3. Local farm, fisheries, and food businesses are profitable and rewarding to all involved;
4. Policy, regulation, and infrastructure supports long-term local and regional food production, distribution, and marketing;
5. The ecosystems and resources that sustain a robust food system are conserved and enhanced.
Strategies:1. Food systems perspective2. Network building3. Identifying areas of leverage and opportunity4. Growing one initiative at a time
Intended AudienceNew Hampshire community members
Plan Recommendation StructureThe recommendations are organized around four opportunity areas that support farm, fish, and food enterprises:
1. Education (p. 10);2. Market development (p. 14);3. Food accessibility (p. 18);4. Land and sea resources (p. 22). + regional collaboration ideas
Within each priority area, the plan outlines specific goals followed by short-term, mid-term, and long-term approaches to reach each goal. There are 10 goals in total. 
Catalyst for PlanUnspecified
Creation ProcessThe creation of this plan was conducted over the course of 2 years. Through extensive research of food systems reports and related literature and conversations with specific stakeholder groups, they identified critical opportunities and challenges. Through this process, farm, fish, and food enterprise viability were selected as their primary priority areas.
The subsequent creation process was as follows:
1. 2013: Design & connect (network structure, process identification, review of existing plans & reports, building connections across food system).
2. 2014-2015: Engage and develop (250+ stakeholders via listening sessions, focus groups, and workshops. Developed shared vision, goals, and strategy. Synthesized research to identify opportunities and approaches).
3. 2016+: Collaborate & Adapt (revision, prioritization, collaboration and implementation, nurturing network, and adding initiatives).
This plan also adopts the Collective Impact Framework theory of change. They outline their steps in line with this framework’s stages:
1. Common agenda: The Viability Initiative articulates a shared vision and identifies approaches to strengthening the New Hampshire food system by addressing farm, fish, and food enterprise viability over the short-, medium-, and long-terms.
2. Mutually reinforcing activities: The NH Food Alliance supports new and existing programs, projects, and organizations; advances new ideas; and coordinates actions among participants.
3. Continuous communication: Network participants communicate, share resources, learn from one another, and coordinate initiatives through easily accessible communication channels such as a website, social media, newsletters, and a Listserv.
4. Shared measurement: The Viability Initiative includes a set of indicators consistent with others in New England, for measuring progress towards goals and monitoring Viability Initiative effectiveness.
5. Backbone support: The University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute (UNHSI), provides logistical and administrative support to coordinate continued network building and collaboration.
Theoretical Framework(s) Employed  Collective Impact Framework
Theoretical Framework(s): Additional LiteratureKania, J. and Kramer, M. 2011. Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review. Winter: 36-41.
Development Timeline2+ years
Implementation StrategyThe plan offers suggested approaches to reach their goals (shorter-term, mid-term, and long-term). Additionally, the plan adopts the Collective Impact Framework, “or the idea that greater connectivity and goal alignment between stakeholders… ultimately leads to more effective action and lasting change” (p. 30). This indicates that the creation process of building networks is a key strategy for implementation as well.
Implementation TimelineUnspecified
Evaluation StrategyThis plan lists outlines a “Viability Initiative Indicator Chart” (p. 32) which synthesizes:
1. The goal;2. Suggested approach (short-term, mid-term, and long-term);3. Suggested indicators (e.g. “Trends  in enrollment vs. eligibility of NH Food Stamp programs” (p. 33));4. Data source to measure said indicator (e.g. “Department of Health and Human Services and UNHCE” (p. 33)).
Additionally, the plan and strategy has evolved since the document’s original 2015 publication. While no new formal plan exists, these strategies are documented on the Food Alliance’s website (nhfoodalliance.org).
International Development Framework(s)None
Current Plan StatusActive
Government Adoption StatusNot Adopted
Government Adoption Status (Notes)
Supplemental Documents N/A