Beyond Direct Education and Facilitation: Revisiting the Role of Extension in Community & Regional Food Systems Development

Catie M. DeMets, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow
Lindsey Day Farnsworth, Community Food Systems Program, Division of Extension, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow

Volume

Issue

DOI

10.34068/joe.62.04.25

Abstract

The fundamental issues that community and regional food systems aim to address are inherently systems problems, yet many Extension programs continue to focus food system development efforts on activities and actors that directly support the food value chain. While important, the impact of these interventions is limited. Drawing from interviews with directors of four of the nation’s leading Community and Regional Food Systems Extension programs, this article makes a case for rethinking Extension’s role in community and regional food systems development in relationship to key leverage points through a typology of Extension roles and corresponding examples.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

DeMets, C. M., & Day Farnsworth, L. (2024). Beyond Direct Education and Facilitation: Revisiting the Role of Extension in Community & Regional Food Systems Development. The Journal of Extension, 62(4), Article 25. https://doi.org/10.34068/joe.62.04.25

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