ABSTRACT
We use a system dynamics framework to illustrate how community-based food systems lie at the center of a number of causal loops which may reinforce a series of potentially positive or negative outcomes including obesity, unemployment, fiscal deficits and farmland loss. The model helps identify levers of (e.g. training for entrepreneurial agriculture) and barriers to (e.g. fast food chains) change and ultimately the most effective pathway toward realizing the benefits of community-based food systems.
