This begins by setting the context for the local food movement and its relationship to planning and economic development, showing why local food is important and why its economic importance has been undervalued in the past. The article then describes measures that planners, local officials, and citizens can take to overcome this lack of understanding and appreciation to help promote local small-scale agriculture and the many benefits it offers. These measures go beyond the familiar tools of comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, farmland preservation, and economic development, and they will work only if seen in the larger context of the food system as a whole. Because this article is conceptual in nature and looks at the "big picture," it does not go into specific detail on agricultural planning programs or projects, which are worthy subjects for other articles.