Commentary: Local Farms, Local Firms, Community Development, and Quality of Life: A Systematic Analysis

• Author: Julia Freedgood
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12855
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Date: 01 November 2017

Local Farms, Local Firms, Community Development, and Quality of Life: A Systematic Analysis 887

Julia Freedgood

American Farmland Trust

Local Farms, Local Firms, Community Development,

and Quality of Life: A Systematic Analysis

Julia Freedgood is assistant vice

president of programs at American

Farmland Trust, where she leads an initiative

to advance farms for the next generation.

As a principal investigator on Growing Food

Connections, she builds local government

capacity to support community food

systems.

E-mail: jfreedgood@farmland.org

Commentary

Jill K. Clark and Matthew Record’s article “Local

Capitalism and Civic Engagement: The Potential of

Locally Facing Firms” is an important

contribution to the literature on the community

value of locally facing firms and civic agriculture. By

examining the behavioral and motivational aspects of

the relationship between business owners and supply

chains, the article adds compelling ideas about the role

of businesses that have direct relationships with their

communities as well as their customers. It takes analysis

of local capitalism and civic engagement to a new level.

In recent years, the public sector has increasingly

recognized the value of local farms and food to

community development and quality of life. More

and more state and local governments are developing