House Passes Bill Establishing Washington Food Policy Forum

Last Friday the House voted 72-26 to pass State Senate Bill 6343 establishing the Washington Food Policy Forum. With only one more step to go–getting the bill signed into law by Governor Gregoire–local food system activists are working hard to mask their excitement.

The purpose of the Forum is to:

- Increase production, sale, and consumption of Washington grown foods;
- Promote healthy Washington grown foods to Washington residents;
- Support nutrition programs and avoid burdens of obesity and other diet-related diseases;
- Protect land and water resources needed to sustain local food production;
- Encourage retention of farmers and economic viability of local food production, processing and distribution; and
- Reduce food insecurity and hunger.

The goals of the Forum include increasing collaboration and communication between local, state, and federal agencies, creating innovative public-private partnerships, and suggesting improvements to state and federal laws and programs.  The Forum is tasked with developing recommendations with benchmarks and criteria for measuring progress of the Forum’s goals.

The Forum is comprised of 25 members.  Sixteen of the members are appointed by the director of the Department of Agriculture. These 16 members will represent farmers and stakeholders related to food production, marketing and distributions, nutrition and public health, anti-hunger, resource protection, food industry workers, international trade,  retail grocers, restaurants, and commercial fishing. Nine of the members are ex-officio members representing state agencies and universities.

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