Food Policy Councils: A Promising Solution for a Broken Food System

The Huffington Post yesterday published an article titled, Breaking Through the Asphalt: Food Policy Councils, which highlights the findings of the Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy report. It’s a great reminder to push for official recognition of our own Acting Food Policy Council!

Here’s a short excerpt from the insightful article. To read the full version click here.

The foundational asphalt for the global food system, amply described and decried by food analysts like Raj Patel, Michael Pollan, Tom Phillipot, and many others, is the U.S. Farm Bill. It’s passage every 5 years or so is ferociously lobbied by the biggest and baddest global monopolies on the planet (ADM, Monsanto, Cargill, etc.) Eliminating the industrial pork from this reified hunk of law is harder than pulling the transfat out of chicken nuggets. As such–barring a national food revolt–the Farm Bill will set the rules for our food systems for some time to come.

For this reason, family farm organizations, foodies and food justice activists seeking to change the way our food is grown, processed, distributed and consumed, tend to work from the ground up and the inside out, rather than from the top down and outside in. They have their work cut out for them.

Abroad and at home, the food crisis marches on. The USDA recently reported over 49 million people in the U.S. are now “food insecure.” Use of food stamps is growing rapidly, and food banks are unable to tend to the record numbers of people–many from working families –who can’t make ends meet. Communities around the country are faced with the pressing issues of hunger at a time when city, county and state budgets are deeply in the red, and when the food industry itself is in recession.

What is to be done until the food revolution comes? Plenty.

A recent publication from Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy describes a promising and growing response to the political and economic impasse of our nation’s food systems: Food Policy Councils.

Related posts:

1. Summary of State Food Policy Councils
2. Why a Washington Food Policy Council, and Why Now?
3. Act Now: Show Your Support for a WA Food Policy Council

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