Local food and sustainable regional development

This paper examines municipality-owned sustainable and local food production initiatives in Dalarna, Sweden, through the lens of the ‘public plate’ as both a strategy for securing high-quality, sustainable food and a tool for regional development. Using a qualitative case study, we explore how these initiatives promote local food while advancing broader sustainability goals. We situate local actions within regional and national policy contexts, highlighting how overlapping agendas shape implementation. Focusing on the Återtaget programme, we reveal the opportunities and challenges public actors face in mobilising food systems to address environmental, social and economic objectives in place-based development frameworks.