Evaluating Food Systems in Comprehensive Planning: Is the Mississippi Gulf Coast Planning for Food?

Abstract

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is famous for its shrimp, oysters, and crabs. Seafood is an essential part of both the culture and the diet of coastal residents. The last five years have been hard on the seafood industry, first with Hurricane Katrina, then the national recession, and then the Deep water Horizon oil spill. In the five years following the Hurricane, all of the cities and counties on the Mississippi Gulf Coast prepared comprehensive plans. This paper examines the degree to which food systems has been incorporated into the comprehensive plans developed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It finds that food systems have not been adequately integrated into the plans. The plans begin to touch on food systems, but The plans fail to create a factual basis to support planning for food systems, setting limited goals to support food systems and proposes limited implementation measures to support systems. While the region as a whole has not yet planned for food systems, there are instances where communities are examining the future of food. This article concludes by offering recommendations on how communities can improve their plans relative to food systems as they move into their next phase of regional planning.

Keywords: Comprehensive Plan, Food System, Gulf Coast, Mississippi, Plan Evaluation, Seafood, food policy, public policy

JEL Classification: D23, D70, D73, H10, H43, H70, I12, I31, O10, O21, Q00, Q18, Q22, R14, R58