Food Policy Councils
Introduction
"Food policy councils need to ask themselves …how they might contribute to ameliorating the larger urban
crisis facing the U.S. and assist in creating what the World Health Organization calls 'healthy cities and
communities.'" Ken Dahlberg
As communities begin to build local and regional food systems, they find themselves struggling against the dominant long-distance industrial food and agriculture system. Local food initiatives will only succeed in changing this system when food activists and planners build public support and partner with local, municipal, and state governments. Across the country, food policy councils are emerging as a new kind of institution to make this happen.
What Is A Food Policy Council?
A food policy council (FPC) brings together stakeholders from diverse food-related areas to examine how the food system is working and propose ways to improve it. A FPC may be an official advisory body on food systems issues to a city, county, or state government, or it may be a grassroots network focused on educating the public, coordinating non-profit efforts, and influencing government, commercial, and institutional practices and policies on food systems. Such a grassroots network is sometimes referred to as a food systems council (FSC). The task for both of these models is to help the community to explore its own food system, assess what is possible, and build programs for change.
Food policy councils respond to a simple question. If food is a basic human need -- on par with water, housing, and health services -- why don’t state and local governments have a Department of Food? Inequities in food access based on race and wealth have been growing for decades in the US, as people lose access to land and the ability to grow or even shop for food in their own neighborhoods. Yet governments do not plan for food security as they do for other basic needs such as waste disposal and transportation. The lack of coordination among government departments and private organizations leads to fragmented or even counterproductive efforts, making it even more difficult to develop lasting solutions to food system problems.
Food Policy Councils Begin – and Evolve
The first food policy council was founded in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982, to address some of these issues. Councils then began to form around North America, including in St. Paul, Kansas City, Charlotte, and Philadelphia. These initial efforts gave visibility to the idea and encouraged others -- as in Hartford, Austin, Los Angeles, Syracuse, Portland (OR), Toronto and many other cities. Additionally, in areas where governments showed no great interest in creating a food policy council, communities began to establish local and regional food systems councils in the late 1990s.
The movement has now become popular enough that there are six emerging food policy councils in the State of Colorado alone. In some states, there is now interest at the state government level as well. State FPCs have been established in Connecticut, Iowa, Utah, New Mexico, and North Carolina, among others – and one has recently been mandated in New York. There are also a number of emerging state-level food systems councils, including in California, Oregon, Oklahoma, Michigan, Maine, and Colorado.
Challenges and Achievements
Still, no U.S. city, state, or county has a Department of Food, and food issues continue to be embedded throughout various local, state, and federal government agencies. A food policy council at the city or county level doesn't yet meet the vision of a Department of Food -- its resources and power are usually quite limited. State food policy councils are still in their formative stages, and some have come and gone due to shifts in political and budgetary support. However, because of their ability to bring together diverse organizations and interests to develop win-win solutions, food policy councils are crucial to designing and proposing creative solutions to food system issues.
A food policy/food system council brings together new coalitions and creates an effective space for
positive joint efforts. It can include anti-hunger advocates, community leaders, government representatives,
farmers, grocers and food distributors, cooperative extension agents, and concerned citizens. A FPC performs
a variety of tasks, from researching food production, food access, and health issues, to designing and
implementing projects and policies to address those issues. The council will often conduct a
community food assessment in order to better understand the region's needs and resources. Through public meetings and annual reports, it also educates local officials, businesses, and the public about the food system.
What are some of the achievements of food policy and food system councils? In various towns and counties, they have included:
- Creating a State Food Security Task Force
- Developing guidelines for school nutrition programs
- Promoting direct marketing opportunities such as institutional purchasing
- Implementing the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program
- Developing state-wide marketing initiatives to promote locally grown foods
- Organizing regional conferences and national workshops to promote FPCs
Exploring New Frontiers
There are a number of new frontiers to explore and bring into food policy and food systems work. These could include, for instance, connecting obesity-reduction campaigns to school feeding programs. There is great potential in local sourcing of fruits and vegetables -- starting with community gardens and extending to urban and peri-urban farms. Local and state planners need to be educated about the economic and environmental importance of local food systems, which typically make up some twenty percent of local economic activity. All this must be done in the larger context of developing local alternatives to unsustainable long-distance food and agricultural systems. Food policy/food system councils need to expand their vision to include these sustainability issues. Ken Dahlberg, an early analyst of FPCs, sees them as a powerful way to address the larger urban crisis facing the U.S. and create what the World Health Organization calls "healthy cities and communities."
Food policy councils provide a crucial forum to encourage more creative and lasting solutions to food system issues. Based on their ability to bring together diverse organizations and interests to develop win-win solutions, food policy councils can have a very significant influence even with modest resources. Across the country, FPCs and FSCs have been a voice for the critical role of food issues in public policy, both at the municipal and state level. Food policy councils put healthy food on the radar screens of local and state governments -- to help ensure that families can put healthy food on the table every day.
NOTE:
In general, the term Food Policy Council, unless otherwise stated, refers in the topic to the fluid and changing spectrum
of organizations which also includes Food Systems Councils. For more on the differences between FPCs and FSCs,
see the Frequently Asked Questions section of this topic.
Sources:
- Writings of Ken Dahlberg, including Food Policy Councils: The Experience of Five Cities and One County in Strategies, Policy Approaches, and Resources for Local Food System Planning and Organizing: A Resource Guide Prepared by the Local Food System Project Team. Kenneth Dahlberg et al, 1997, PDF Version, January 2002, and
- Healthy People, Places, and Communities: A 2025 Vision for Michigan's Food and Farming (PDF), Ken Dahlberg, Jim Bingen, and Kami Pothukuchi,
Citizens' Network for Michigan Food Democracy, September 2005.
- Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a
Global Supermarket, Brian Halweil, Norton/Worldwatch Book, New York, 2004. Especially see pages 135-137.
- Food Policy Council webpage of the Community Food Security Coalition
- Food Security Begins at Home: Creating Community Food
Coalitions in the South.
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.
Updated 6/2007
