Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently participated in a cross-institutional study involving 16 researchers to determine what it would take for New England states to increase its regional self-reliance to 30 percent by 2030.
Christian Peters, research leader of the USDA Agricultural Research
Services Food Systems Research Center, is part of a team that contributed to a New England Feeding New England study, released on June 5, 2023. He stated, “This research addresses the current and potential capacity of New England to source its own food. It’s important that we understand the current balance of production to consumption to avoid being unduly pessimistic or overly optimistic about the role of local and regional production in the overall food supply.”
The research shows that New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) produces a small number of foods, like cranberries and potatoes, in large amounts relative to consumption, but for most foods, regional production is quite low.
Read more about the research and download a copy of the study here.