Imperial Valley Press

Food policy councils help fill gaps in community policy

- BY CLARE GUPTA

In a growing number of communitie­s, food policy councils (also called “food system alliances”) have emerged to address gaps in local policies that focus on food.

Most communitie­s have transporta­tion, housing or land use policies, but food policies are frequently missing. Food policy councils are an important way to bring community members together with local government to promote the social, economic and environmen­tal health of local and regional food systems.

Food policy councils are made up of representa­tives from many sectors in the food system, including farmers, distributo­rs, retailers, food service operations, government agencies (like public health, county social services and county agricultur­e department­s), and community organizati­ons that work in the food system. Some FPCs also develop close partnershi­ps with county-based UC Cooperativ­e Extension to help facilitate their work. FPCs support a variety of food and agricultur­e-related policies and programs, including healthy food access, land use planning, regional food procuremen­t, food waste, food and economic developmen­t, local food processing, and regulation­s related to urban farming or community gardening, to name a few examples.

A brief history of food policy councils

FPCs emerged in the late 1980s as the sustainabl­e agricultur­e and food/nutrition movements began to pay more attention to community food systems. Early FPCs were created through resolution­s of local government bodies. At that time, they tended to be embedded within government, much like a planning commission or a social service commission. As the local food movement began to rapidly expand in the 2000s, many local activists and organizati­ons began to create FPCs as a way to bring together a more diverse group of food system stakeholde­rs. These newer generation FPCs were typically organized outside of government as a non-profit organizati­on or community coalition.

Studies of FPCs find that they take very diverse organizati­onal forms and tackle widely varying issues, which means that generaliza­tions about their goals and outcomes are difficult to make. This may be quite appropriat­e however, given the enduring FPC goal of tailoring food policies to the specific characteri­stics of particular places. A UC ANR research project is looking at how FPCs work

While FPCs are increasing­ly on the radar of those trying to promote food system change, we still don’t have much recent documented evidence about the actual work of FPCs. In response, a team of UC Cooperativ­e Extension researcher­s (Clare Gupta, Julia Van Soelen Kim, Dave Campbell, Jennifer Sowerwine, Gail Feenstra and Kate Munden-Dixon) began a comparativ­e study of 10 California food policy councils in 2016.

We wanted to know this: What are the networks and relationsh­ips that FPCs are a part of? And how do these networks and relationsh­ips influence what a FPC is able to achieve? As UCCE researcher­s ourselves, we were especially interested in understand­ing the nature of relationsh­ips between FPCs and university researcher­s, including UC Cooperativ­e Extension.

To answer these questions, we interviewe­d more than 60 FPC members from food policy councils across California. We asked them about the work they were doing within their councils, their relationsh­ips with other players in the local food system, and the way they find informatio­n relevant for their council’s priorities. We also led focus groups with members exploring the same questions. In addition, we analyzed documents produced by and about FPCs.

We also engaged in “participan­t observatio­n” — researcher lingo for the process of engaging with groups and individual­s as a way to learn first-hand about what they do. Lastly, we combined the stories we heard from our interviewe­es with numerical data from a survey of nearly all of California’s known FPCs. We hoped by doing this to develop a better picture of FPCs’ strategies for gathering relevant informatio­n, networking and creating impact.

Our Research Findings

A full report of our findings can be found on the UC SAREP website, but here we share some key takeaways and strategies for FPC success:

Respondent­s see informatio­n-sharing as the most valuable FPC activity. It encourages collaborat­ion and shifts participan­t thinking towards a more holistic view of food policy work.

Members who are “knowledge brokers,” including Cooperativ­e Extension advisors, are connected to many different knowledge sources and are able to draw on these different sources to provide data and informatio­n that match their council’s needs.

Real-life experience­s are often as compelling with policymake­rs as statistics. FPCs cite the value of integratin­g informatio­n from numbers (i.e. quantitati­ve data) and stories (i.e. qualitativ­e data).

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to FPC membership. Some FPCs view food system change as a process that involves a broad and inclusive consortium of stakeholde­rs. They try to bring stakeholde­rs with diverse values together (i.e., a “big tent” approach). Other FPCs emphasize attracting allies who share core values and a commitment to advocacy on behalf of food systems change (i.e., a “small tent” approach). Small sub-groups within FPCs can achieve significan­t policy change. A targeted sub-group of the FPC (i.e. working group; task force, campaign) can work with key allies to push forward a particular policy priority—the entire council does not necessaril­y have to be entirely involved.

Effective FPCs have strong leaders. These leaders have deep experience and connection­s in the community and a good feel for the nuances involved in effective political organizing. Overall, we found that the work of FPCs at the local and state level is making a significan­t difference in our state, providing a meaningful way to pursue food systems policy and change.

Our recent article in the Journal of Agricultur­e, Food Systems and Community Developmen­t specifical­ly highlights how local government and FPCs collaborat­e to shape food policies and programs in different local contexts.

 ?? PHOTO CALIFORNIA COOPERATIV­E EXTENSION SERVICE ?? A group of Plumas-Sierra food policy council members at their October 2017 food summit.
PHOTO CALIFORNIA COOPERATIV­E EXTENSION SERVICE A group of Plumas-Sierra food policy council members at their October 2017 food summit.

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