Kane County Illinois Farmland Protection Ordinance Health Impact Assessment Project: Evaluation Results

There is growing interest in using policy approaches in non-health-related sectors such as transportation, housing, and agriculture, to address public health issues. Health impact assessment (HIA) is an especially promising way to factor health considerations into planning and decision-making processes. This research presents the results of an evaluation of the Kane County Illinois Farmland Protection Ordinance Health Impact Assessment project (the project). The purpose of the project was to conduct a health impact assessment of a proposed amendment to the Kane County Illinois farmland protection ordinance. Implemented in 2001, the County designed the ordinance to preserve its prime commodity producing farmland. In recognition of the growing interest in locally grown foods, a proposed amendment to the ordinance was designed in 2012 to include small food producing farms. The goal of the amendment was to balance investments in farmland protection to encourage local food production. This proposed policy change was the focus of the HIA. This evaluation shows evidence suggesting the HIA influenced the passage of an amendment which balanced farmland protection policies to encourage locally grown fruits, vegetables, and whole grains with the objective of protecting traditional commodity croplands (the original intent of the farmland protection ordinance), potentially leading to changes in dietary consumption and population health improvements. The HIA project team identified and sought involvement of key groups, most notably the Kane County Farm Bureau and the Northern Illinois Food Bank, early in the HIA process and effectively used these relationships to achieve the objectives of the project.