Written by Jill Slankas, with contributions from Brenna Trollinger.
A dear friend once told me something I’ve never forgotten: food is love.
It’s why we bring meals to a family after the loss of a loved one, drop off dinner when someone is sick, or gather around a table to celebrate life’s biggest milestones. Food nourishes us, but it also connects us, comforts us, and builds community.
That perspective took on a whole new meaning while working on the Resilient Food System Action Plan for the Plymouth County Area. Food is foundational to our cultures, economies, environments, and health. The Action Plan we helped create is a piece of a much larger conversation about food, where it comes from, who can access it, and how it shapes our communities.
The Action Plan is a 10-year roadmap for the region, organized around six goals:
- Protect and strengthen working lands and waters
- Strengthen the viability of farms, fisheries, and food businesses
- Build food infrastructure and supply chain capacity
- Improve food access, food security, and community well-being
- Foster education, workforce development, and food system awareness
- Strengthen regional coordination, inclusion, and accountability
The plan was a collaboration with the Old Colony Planning Council, Plymouth County, and the Marion Institute, and was funded by a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant.
During this planning process, I learned how deeply we rely on our local food systems, and how important it is to keep them strong. However, many challenges create vulnerability in our local food system, including rising rates of food insecurity, higher food costs, a changing climate, and declining farm viability. According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, New England Feeding New England, and the USDA Census of Agriculture:
- In 2025, 40% of households in Plymouth County were food insecure
- In 2022, only 2.7% of food spending in Massachusetts went to local food, even though the state spends more on food overall than any other New England state
- Plymouth County accounts for 12% of total farmland in Massachusetts, but only 2% of the farmland in Plymouth County is permanently protected
- In 2022, 54% of farms in Plymouth County operated at a loss
Taken together, these numbers describe a system under strain, but they are only half of the picture. There is an incredible amount of work already underway in Plymouth County and elsewhere to address these pressures. In Cohasset, Holly Hill Farm was one of 72 organizations to receive a 2026 Food Security Infrastructure Grant for deer fencing and truck refrigeration. In Abington, the Town used MVP 2.0 funding to build a new “Growing Greener” community garden. The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC), and Wildlands Trust have launched a regional initiative to permanently protect vulnerable farmlands in southeastern Massachusetts.
These are just a few of the ongoing projects that will continue to strengthen and support the region’s food system. What struck me most, though, wasn’t any single project. It was the people behind the work. Through conversations with farmers, food pantries, municipal leaders, regional organizations, and community members across 31 cities and towns, I came to appreciate that a resilient food system is about so much more than agriculture or economics. It’s about ensuring everyone has access to healthy food, supporting the people who grow and harvest it, and strengthening the connections that help communities thrive.
In a conversation with a cranberry grower, they said that this work is not easy, but it is important and we do it because we love it. Farming is a way of life, it is a cultural heritage, and once it is gone, you can’t get it back. We talked about how cranberry growing connects them to the land and the heritage of cranberry farming. That is what my friend meant. Food is love, and a resilient food system is how a region makes sure that love can actually reach people.
I’m grateful to everyone who shared their time and perspectives throughout this process and proud to have played a role in creating a roadmap for a stronger, more resilient future for the region. A plan is only as good as what happens next, and we are not finished talking about this one. We’ll be sharing the planning process and the lessons learned during a panel discussion at SNEAPA on October 8th, and again in our upcoming quarterly webinar on November 4th.
If you are working on food systems in your own community, we would love to hear from you. For more information and to read the full Action Plan, please visit the Old Colony Planning Council’s website at https://oldcolonyplanning.org/foodresiliency/.
