Agrihoods: A contemporary planning strategy to shorten a community’s food supply chain

The Canadian food system, represented in the attitudes of both food corporations and consumers, currently functions as a footnote in a neoliberal agenda that does not consider its processes’ environmental or social implications. With a lack of broad coordination of the activities that make up the global food system, professional planners have started to recognize that many facets of the food system influence most, if not all, planning practice. A recent strategy employed by planners to align societal objectives through sustainable food systems is the implementation of “agrihoods” - master-planned communities designed around food or agriculture activities. This research looks to determine whether or not the agrihood community design is successful in supporting a sustainable food system through the examination of two agrihood case studies and their abilities to foster and sustain a short food supply chain. It is determined that agrihoods are effective in shortening the food supply chain associated with the local food system’s production side. However, the residents or consumers in the agrihood communities are still participating in long food supply chains. It is recommended that a universal definition and standards be developed for any community using the term “agrihood” to enhance the design concept’s overall sustainability and ability to foster sustainable local food systems.