In the literature on urban sprawl, few studies have looked at possible connection between effective protection of agricultural land and urban or community food strategies. Our case studies in Provence and Tuscany show that planning prescriptions and land-market control are insufficient to protect farmland on the urban fringe if regulatory approaches are not integrated into a global strategy for agriculture and food based on community involvement. Farmland protection policies are more effective if they combine top-down policies with bottom-up initiatives and if they recognize the multifunctional character of urban agriculture, especially with processed goods such as wine or olive oil.