CFI’s Executive Board has laid the foundation of the interactive web station by creating its strategic plan with the leadership of Rupert Rossetti of Port Deposit. Developing the plan defined many points that will promote CFI’s goals.

The primary audience is middle-school aged children but the site must also appeal to adults. An initial hook is needed to get visitors interested, for example, a plate of food and the question: “Where does this food come from?” Clicking on a specific food item would take the visitor back through the supply chain to the source of that food - click on a chicken drumstick and travel back to an egg in the nest or follow ice cream from a cone to a cow in the pasture.

“Visitors should begin to understand that buying locally produced agriculture products helps preserve our rural landscape and everyone is a stakeholder in this mission,” explains Phyllis Kilby, secretary of the Board. “They should recognize that local farmers are good stewards of the land and their stewardship helps keep drinking water and the Bay clean while their woodlands and buffers provide wildlife habitat. Eating local reduces food’s carbon footprint (less transportation, less refrigeration) and causes less concern about food safety because the buyer knows where it came from, how it was raised and how it was prepared. And most important, Chesapeake Fields is an organization committed to helping preserve the rural landscape by helping farmers ...