A New England Food Vision

With three times as much land (15% of the region, or 6 million acres) producing food, we’ll need several hundred thousand acres in and around cities devoted to intensive production and several million acres of rural farmland supporting crops and livestock.

• 20,000Acres of Farmland
• 5% Farmland
• 85% Developed
• 10% Forest

• 210,000Acres of Farmland
• 15% Farmland
• 60% Developed
• 25% Forest

• 1,300,000Acres of Farmland
• 25% Farmland
• 25% Developed
• 50% Forest

• 1,170,000Acres of Farmland
• 60% Farmland
• 10% Developed
• 30% Forest

• 2,120,000Acres of Farmland
• 17% Farmland
• 8% Developed
• 75% Forest

• 1,240,000Acres of Farmland
• 6% Farmland
• 4% Developed
• 90% Forest

• 6,050,000Acres of Farmland
• 15% Farmland
• 11% Developed
• 74% Forest

Landscape Type

• Urban
• Suburban
• Semi-Rural
• Cultivated
• Woods & Pastures
• Forest
• Total

• 6,000,000 acres for 17 million healthy New Englanders, we could grow:



• 500,000 acres for all our vegetables
• 4,500,000 acres for all of our dairy and beef (and lamb) mostly on grass



• 100% of our pastured pork, poultry, and eggs - mostly on imported feed grain
• 500,000 acres for some portion of our grain (for people and animals), beans, and vegetable oil



• 500,000 acres for 1/2 of our fruit

We also need a strong, sustainable
yield from our fisheries.

• 70% This expansion leaves 70% of the region forested, with adequate room remaining for clustered “smart growth” and green development.

A New England Food Vision describes a future in which New England produces at least half of the region's food – and no one goes hungry. It looks ahead to 2060 and sees farming and fishing as important regional economic forces; soils, forests, and waterways cared for sustainably; healthy diets as a norm; and access to food valued as a basic human right.