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Most U.S. farms today specialize in either crop or livestock production, failing to harness the potential economic and environmental benefits of integrated crop–livestock systems (ICLS). This specialization is particularly contradictory for organic operations, which aim to promote biodiversity and reduce reliance on outside sources of feed and fertility. This study investigated the challenges and opportunities experienced by farmers interested in integrating crops and livestock on organically managed farms in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Qualitative methods, including focus groups and interviews, generated four categories of challenges: farming norms, complexity of management, biophysical conditions, and financial costs, and four categories of opportunities: increasing support for ICLS, financial and labor advantages, biophysical improvements, and animal welfare. Discussion of the data analysis demonstrates how most of the challenges of ICLS are mitigated by opportunities. For instance, increasing support for ICLS means there are growing communities of practice in which farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange and peer support overcome obstacles to success in these systems. Unmitigated challenges that are beyond the control of farmers include regional infrastructure, financing and insurance, and long time horizon for returns. These three unmitigated challenges may require interventions such as policy support, economic incentives and social infrastructure to enable successful farm transitions to ICLS in this region.

Emphasis on local foods and local food systems has often meant that the importance of other scales goes unrecognized or underappreciated. While each scale has limitations, some food system experts now assert the benefits of the regional scale for its ability to foster a more sufficient, diverse, affordable, and resilient food system. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring people's perceptions of regionally produced foods. Seven focus groups were conducted with a total of 51 participants across four locations in the U.S. Northeast. Topics discussed included the importance of knowing where food is sourced, how people described their region, personal connections to the region, globalization of food, importance of food origin, perceived benefits and drawbacks of regional foods, and the sense of efficacy and engagement involving food. While many participants were familiar with the concept of the local food system, their perceptions of the regional scale were weaker, less formed, and more divergent. These focus groups provide foundational insights into emerging consumer definitions and values related to regional food systems, which may help develop appropriately targeted messages to reinforce regional benefits.

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