Chapter 8 - Farm to Institution New England: Mobilizing the Power of a Region’s Institutions to Transform a Region’s Food System

Abstract

New England’s schools, institutions of higher education, and hospitals spend hundreds of millions of dollars on food and beverages every year (Farm to Institution New England, 2015; Health Care Without Harm, 2017; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Services, 2016). If these institutions increase the amount of locally produced and processed foods they purchase, they could increase access to fresh, healthy, local food for hundreds of thousands of children, adults, and elderly people throughout the region, while supporting local producers and generating tens of millions of dollars in new economic activity for the region. This chapter tells the story of Farm to Institution New England (FINE), a six-state network of non-profit, public, and private entities working to mobilize the purchasing power of its region’s institutions to facilitate these outcomes and transform the food system.