GREENFIELD — Building on years of work by the Franklin County Food Council, a collaboration of local farmers, food entrepreneurs and consumers have worked together in recent months to establish a framework for decision-making and communicating advocacy efforts.

The work — which involved conducting an analysis of food policy assessments, strengths, gaps and priorities with current food council members through a series of meetings and workshops — was supported by a $12,399 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. In June, that process culminated with a Food Policy Summit, during which the Franklin County Food Council advised food system stakeholders how and when to “plug into different food systems,” as well as how and when to reach out to legislators.

“What we’ve done over the last few months is explore how we … can advocate for policies that advance a resilient, sustainable, just food system in a unique rural economy,” said Just Roots Executive Director Laura Fisher. “What this has looked like is a series of meetings to gauge interest, capacity and experience and most recently, to top it off, to finalize the direction.”

Fisher, who has served as executive director for nearly a year, explained that the Franklin County Food Council was established in 2013 with the intent of offering a space for stakeholders across the local food systems to network, share resources and make collective decisions.

“Over the course of the last year, the Franklin County Food Council began exploring how its membership could take on, as a collective, food-related policy advocacy work,” she said. “We received this grant in the early spring and … it allowed us to hold a series of capacity-building and organizational meetings.”

Fisher said the analysis conducted this spring was important in large part because of the rural nature of the county, and the “threat of farmland development.”

“I believe all food politics is local,” she said. “Having a collective voice at the county level, the foodshed level … can be a really powerful and effective way of … increasing local food access, providing younger and more diverse farmers access to farmlands.”

Quarterly meetings will continue to be held, she said. The next meeting is scheduled to take place Sept. 14, at 4 p.m., with a location still to be determined.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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