Key informants were asked to respond to the following questions:

1. Organizational Goals & Strategies
   1. What food system issues are you trying to work on? What changes are you trying to make? Impacts you’re trying to have?
   2. What does success look like? What are you striving toward? What indicators do you use to measure success?
   3. What do you think is working well for you? The most promising practices, projects, or activities?
   4. What other current practices, projects, or activities that other organizations in this food system sector are working on might be important for us to know about?
2. Key Partners
   1. Which organizations or individuals do you work with most closely in the food system?
   2. Have there been any important collaborative projects within your food system sector over the past three years? Please describe.
3. Emerging Issues & Opportunities
   1. What are some emerging issues in your sector of the food system?
   2. What are the biggest upcoming or current opportunities that you know about in this sector?
4. What has changed in your sector since the 2013 CFA Report?
   1. Positively?
   2. Negatively?
5. Gaps in the Food System
   1. What unmet needs, challenges, or barriers do you see in this sector of the food system?
      1. Individual needs, organizational needs, data gaps, lack of activities focused on particular goals.
   2. Important Resources
      1. Are there plans/documents in place which Whatcom County organizations like yours are using to guide food system work?
      2. Are there internal organizational plans/documents that guide your work?
      3. Are there resources/documents/reports you have produced or that you are aware of that are particularly helpful in your work or that you think may be of value to others working toward related goals?
         1. Would you be willing to share some or all of these?

A Western Washington University Anthropology Department graduate student conducted ten semi-structured interviews between August 2016 and April 2017. Two more interviews were conducted by Whatcom Food Network Community Food Assessment Update Subcommittee members. Each interview ranged from approximately 45-75 minutes in length. Eleven of the interviews were conducted in-person at the respondent’s place of work or another convenient location. One interview was conducted over the phone.

Seven interviews were audio-recorded and then professionally transcribed. Next, these transcriptions were returned to the interviewees for review. Once approved by the interviewees, these 18 to 24-page transcribed interviews were distilled into short summaries. These interview summaries were then sent to the interviewee for approval.

For the interviews that were not audio-recorded, the interviewer typed notes as the respondent talked. These notes were then used to write the interview summary, which followed the same protocol as the transcribed interview reports. This process was conducted in accordance with Western Washington University’s IRB rules and guidelines. Once the interviewee granted approval, the summary reports were shared with the CFA Subcommittee.