STRATEGIES,
POLICY APPROACHES, AND RESOURCES FOR LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM PLANNING AND ORGANIZING
A Resource
Guide Prepared by The Local Food System Project Team
With the Assistance of Thomas Hemingway
Photocopy
Version, February 1997
PDF Version,
January 2002
OVERVIEW
[See
the Complete Table of Contents for the listing of file numbers and their links]
I BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM
PROJECT
II.
WHY LOCAL? General reasons why greater localization of our food systems is
needed.
III.
LOCAL FOOD POLICY GOALS AND ISSUES
A.
Goal statements and resolutions from Knoxville, TN, St Paul, MN, and Onondaga
County, NY.
B.
Different organizational approaches used by food policy councils.
D.
Examples of policy statements from St. Paul, MN and Toronto, Canada.
IV.
LOCAL FOOD POLICY ORGANIZATIONS
A. A timeline
of local food systems planning.
B. Studies
of local food policy councils.
V.
GENERAL STRATEGIES FOR PLANNING AND ORGANIZING
A.
The larger context.
B.
Assessing your local food system.
C.
Preliminary planning and strategizing.
D.
Engaging other people and groups through visioning processes.
E.
Examples of detailed community food assessments.
VI.
LINKING FOOD SYSTEM POLICY ISSUES TO OTHER COMMUNITY ISSUES
A.
Food‑related economic development.
B.
Food systems‑based community development.
C.
Healthy Cities and Communities Program.
VII.
FOOD SYSTEMS GRAPHICS
A. What are
food systems?
B. Food
systems at different levels.
VIII.
MATERIALS CITED IN THIS GUIDE
COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS
II. WHY LOCAL? [F-2]
There are a number of general reasons why greater localization of our food systems needed. Many of these are summarized in the following short articles.
Kenneth A. Dahlberg, "Localizing Food Systems," The Neighborhood Works, Feb/March 1994, p. 14.
Laura DeLind, "Local Foods: There's No Place Like Home", Groundwork, January 24, 1994, pp. 4 ‑ 5.
Kathy Lerza, "Defining Sustainable Communities, Report from Conference, June 24,1994.
Richard Bolan, "Global Economy and Sustainable Development." The Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, August 1996.
III. LOCAL FOOD POLICY GOALS AND ISSUES
[F-3, F-4, & F-5]
This section contains a number of examples of goal statements and ordinances from various communities. Also, there is some discussion of the types of policy issues found at the local level.
A. Goal statements and resolutions from Knoxville, TN, St. Paul, MN and Onondaga County, NY. [F-3]
1. Knoxville, TN.
a. Food Policy Council of the City of Knoxville. Flyer, October 1988.
b. "A Resolution of the Council of the City of Knoxville expressing its support of an effort to improve the quality, availability, and accessability of food delivery systems for all citizens, and designating the Community Action Committee's Food Supply Project as Coordinator of this effort." Resolution R‑202‑81. October 31, 1981.
2. St. Paul, MN.
a. Ordinance of the City of St. Paul, MN, establishing a Food and Nutrition Commission and providing for its powers and staffing, July 8, 1992
b. St. Paul-Ramsey County Food and Nutrition Commission Mission Statement, March 1995.
3. Onondaga County, NY
Onondaga Food System Council, Inc., "A Comprehensive Approach to Our Local Food System." Flyer. 1993.
B. Different organization approaches used by food policy councils. [F-4]
"Food Policy Councils: The Experience of Five Cities and One County." Ken Dahlberg. Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Agriculture Food and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society, Tucson, AZ, June 11, 1994.
C. Examples of policy statements from St. Paul, and Toronto. [F-5]
1. Saint Paul Food & Nutrition Commission, "Municipal Food Policy." City of Saint Paul, November 19,1987.
2. "Agricultural policy making must be changed if sustainability is to be achieved, says just released report" News Release from the Toronto Food Policy Council announcing release of its report, "Setting a New Direction: changing Canada's agricultural policy making process." April 25, 1995.
IV. LOCAL FOOD POLICY ORGANIZATIONS [F-6, F-7, F-8, & F-9]
In this section you will find a historical timeline of work that has been done on local food systems planning over the past several decades written by Kate Clancy. Also, there are some summaries as well as the complete reports prepared by Ken Dahlberg on the local food policy councils in Knoxville, TN, St. Paul, MN, Onondaga County, NY, and Philadelphia, PA
A. "A Timeline of Local Food Systems Planning." Kate Clancy, 1996. [F-6]
B. Studies of local food policy councils:
1. Knoxville. [F-6]
a. An article by Geoff Becker, "Nutrition Planning for a City'', The Community Nutritionist, March/April 1982, pp. 12 ‑ 17.
b. "Report and Recommendations on the Knoxville, Tennessee Food System." Kenneth A. Dahlberg, October 1992.
a. "Minnesota Food System; Slow Start, Model Concept," Nutrition Week, Vol. 23,
No. 27 (July 23,1993), pp. 4‑5. [An abstract done by the Community Nutrition Institute of the report immediately below].
b. "Report and Recommendations on the Saint Paul, Minnesota Food System"',
Kenneth A. Dahlberg, March 1993.
3. Onondaga County, NY. [F-8]
"Report and Recommendations on the Onondaga County, NY Food System."
Kenneth A. Dahlberg. September 1993.
4. Philadelphia, PA. [F-9]
"Report and Recommendations on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Food System.''
Kenneth A. Dahlberg. January 1995.
5. Toronto, Canada. [F-9]
Rod MacRae, "So Why is the City of Toronto Concerned about Food and
Agricultural Policy? A Short History of the Toronto Food
Policy Council." Culture
and Agriculture, Winter 1994, pp. 15‑18.
This section begins with ways to assess the larger resource dimensions of your region and your local food system. This is followed by two short pieces that lay out basic planning and strategic sequences and elements. How to involve community groups in local food system visioning and discussion is outlined next. Finally, three detailed assessments of the Chicago foodshed are included.
A. The larger context [F-10]
Wackernagel with The Task Force on Planning Healthy & Sustainable Communities, University of British Columbia, November 1993.
B. "Assessing Your Local Food System." Tom Hemingway, 1995. [F-11]
C. Preliminary Planning and Strategizing: [F-11]
2. Kate Clancy, "Eight Elements Critical to the Success of Food System Councils" June 1988.
D. Engaging other people and groups through visioning processes: [F-12]
1. Trevor Hancock, "How to Facilitate a Vision Workshop," Healthcare Forum Journal (May/June 1993), pp. 33‑34.
E. Examples of detailed community food system assessments: The "Food Files" series. [F-12]
1.
Paige Chapel, "Complex Forces Shape Our Urban
Breadbasket," The Neighborhood
Works,
Vol. 5, No. 7 (Summer 1982), pp. 9‑13.
2.
Paige Chapel, "Metro Agriculture: Meeting Local
Needs?" The Neighborhood Works,
Vol. 5, No. 8 (September 1892), pp, 9‑13.
3. Paige Chapel, "Let Them Eat What They Can Get", The Neighborhood Works, Vol. 5,
No. 9 (Fall 1982), pp. 9 ‑ 11.
VI. LINKING FOOD SYSTEM POLICY ISSUES TO
OTHER COMMUNITY
ISSUES [F-13]
In this section you will find materials on how food systems related to economic development, community development, and to the development of "healthy cities."
A. Food‑related economic development. [F-13]
1. The importance of food in a local economy. One of the most systematic works here is one commissioned by the Philadelphia Food and Agriculture Taskforce. An abstract is included. The full reference is: Ross Koppel, Agenda for Growth: The Impact of Food and Agriculture on the Economy of the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia: Food and Agriculture Taskforce, 1988.
2. Micro‑enterprises. Little systematic work has been done here. Perhaps the most useful overview is that done in a report by the Toronto Food Policy Council. The full reference is: Toronto Food Policy Council, "Stories of Micro Food Enterprises and Implications for Economic Development." Discussion Paper #5, October 1995. The table of contents and the Executive Summary are included here.
B. Food systems-based community development. A
valuable resource here is: Building the
Collaborative Community. Denver, CO, National Civic League and the National Institute for
Dispute Resolution, 2002. [F-13 ]
C. The Healthy Cities and Communities Program. [F-13]
This section includes graphics that Ken Dahlberg developed for various audiences. These were combined in a poster session given at the International Healthy Cities Conference, 1993. Most of the graphics have a separate file because of the memory required for each. Also, see the graphic at the end of section V.C.1. [F-11]
A. The graphic, ‘What are Food Systems?’ along with the text of the poster session in which it was used, “Local and Regional Food Systems: A Key to Healthy Cities” given at the International Healthy Cities Conference, San Francisco, December 1993. [F-14 ]
B. Other graphics used in the poster session that depict different level food systems.
VIII. MATERIALS CITED IN THIS GUIDE [F- 19]