Why a Washington Food Policy Council, and Why Now?

As most of Urban Farm Hub’s readers know, we are at an unprecedented moment in history for an expanding dialogue on food-related issues. If one regularly peruses the media about the problems with our food system such as food safety, public health, urban farming, and hunger, it doesn’t take long to realize how complex the food system is and how disjointed many of the attempts to “fix the problems” are from one another.

The effort to establish the Washington Food Policy Council (here’s a link to the full text of the proposed Senate bill) is part of a growing local and national effort to begin to address in a comprehensive manner issues related to environmental degradation, lack of access to healthy foods, food costs, an absence of needed regional food businesses for processing and distribution, and the loss of farms and farmers. The time is now ripe to begin this important work and to be efficient in the process.

There is no Department of Food at the federal, state, or local levels, so Food Policy Councils have been developed to address the need to talk across government agencies and between government and the many stakeholders within the food system, such as community-based organizations, businesses, and citizens with the goal of improving our food system – making it safer, healthier, and more economically viable for the long-term. Food Policy Councils have been formed across the U.S. and have shown success in several key areas, ones from which our state could greatly benefit.

First, they bring together the many stakeholders representing each food system sector–production (e.g., farms/farmers), processing and distribution (food and trucking businesses, emergency food system providers), retailing (grocery stores, farmers markets, and food cooperatives), preparation (organizations providing food and nutrition education)–and establish a forum for airing interrelated food system issues and providing real opportunity for developing solutions that meet multiple goals.

Next, they address research questions leading to studies that generate much needed information. Such information is essential for improving the food system by informing the development of better public policy. Policy issues that a WA Food Policy Council might address in the near-term include the following:

• Gaining a better understanding of how to keep Washington farms viable for the long-term; we know there are regulatory, distribution/processing and economic barriers–-what are the policies we can improve upon now?;
• Obesity is a serious issue for Washington – how can the state work to increase healthy foods available for our children in schools, and in our communities?;
• Green jobs are a key element to our economic future in the state; what food-related businesses can we promote and advance to help increase access to fresh, WA grown foods at home and on the global market?;
• Agriculture has significant impacts on climate change–what short- and long-term policies could work to support farmers while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel utilization throughout WA?

These and so many other time-sensitive questions can be thoughtfully considered through the work of a statewide Food Policy Council in WA. Food Policy Councils offer a way to save the state money through coordinated government policies and by advancing food-related economic development across the state. Using a Food Policy Council is a well-documented way to move past the siloed approaches that plague the food system now and work toward the creation of a holistic food system that meets the needs of all Washington’s residents

Finally, in the absence of a Department of Food and with the growing issues that demonstrate our food system is broken, Food Policy Councils provide an opportunity to meet mutual civic goals, such as promoting public health, environmental sustainability, and economic development. They also allow for representation from community-based groups and food systems experts, whose perspectives often provide creative and innovative solutions to addressing complex, often daunting regulatory approaches in government. They work to ensure that the solutions identified will not cause harm elsewhere in the food system.

At its core, a food policy council provides a public space for diverse perspectives and holistic solutions to a complex system that provides our most basic human need–healthy food.

This article was written by Erin MacDougall, PhD, Healthy Eating and Active Living Program Manager for Public Health – Seattle & King County. She is also an IATP Food and Society Fellow.

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