The Town Talk in Central Louisiana reports on a recent discussion among more than a dozen stakeholders interested in increasing the productivity and profit of locally grown food who gathered for the first part of a study to identify specific tools that can be developed to boost the local food economy.

The effort is being facilitated by representatives from Karen Karp & Partners, which was commissioned to do the study by Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This area has done a good job of identifying agriculture and food as an economic driver,” said Shayna Cohen, a senior consultant with KK&P. “The goal now is to find out what’s working, what’s not working, what assets and challenges there are, and come up with a handful of models the economic development office can decide to invest in.”

Shayna Cohen and Ben Kerrick from KK&P will continue interviewing buyers and producers during the study process, which is expected to wrap up in March.

Read the entire story here….