What do plans and charters recommend?
This page explores patterns in plan recommendation content across all 20 state-level food system plans and charters. Summary statistics were calculated by analyzing how often Key Planning Elements (KPEs) were coded within plan recommendations. Learn more about our methodology.
Search across 25 plans and charters to explore the specific recommendations per Key Planning Elements.
Key Planning Elements Visual Map
Use the interactive map to explore each element. Click on elements for definitions, examples, and further information about each topic area.
Key Planning Element Frequency Analysis

Column 1 shows the proportion of state-level plans and charters that have at least one recommendation addressing each Key Planning Element. For example: 100% of state plans and charters included recommendation(s) around Good Food Governance and Good/Local Food Economies, while only 39% addressed Equity & Justice.
Column 2 shows the proportion of all recommendations across all plans (n=420) that address each Key Planning Element. For example: 44% of all recommendations address Good/Local Food Economies, while only 4% address Food Sovereignty.
Key Planning Elements as a Proportion of Each Plan

This table represents a “heat map” of each Key Planning Element (KPE), showing the frequency of each topic across plans and charters. These percentages represent the number of recommendations focusing on each KPE, proportional to all recommendations within each plan or charter. For example, we can see that South Carolina featured Good Food Governance across 100% of their recommendations, while Massachusetts includes Good Food Governance across only 13% of their recommendations. Consistent with existing literature that identifies a distinct lack of equity-oriented work in food system planning (e.g. Mui et al. 2021), eleven of the 25 plans and charters do not include recommendations that focus on equity and justice.