Food Policy Councils in the Mid-Atlantic: Working Toward Justice

Sam Boden,Brandon Hoover

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2018.081.002

Sam Boden, Brandon Hoover

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2018.081.002

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Abstract

Moral political action within a food system is vital to human health and survival in the Anthropocene. Over the last 20 years, the alternative food movement has unpacked what that moral food system looks like, and how people either participate or are marginalized in various food systems. Largely overlooked in the alternative food discourse is the role of food policy councils (FPCs) in promoting, planning, and advocating for a regional food system that serves and supports its people. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future put the number of FPCs in North America at 282 in 2015, a more than 650 percent increase over the previous decade (Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, 2015). While the basic design of an FPC is often standard—a locally minded group of stakeholders recommending changes to food policy—the groups are often structured in different ways. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach, including participant interviews and website analysis, to study FPCs from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and look at how their structure affects their emphasis on food justice. In an age of crippling food insecurity, diet-related diseases, corporate hegemony, and food injustice, communities are looking for greater control of their regional food system; local FPCs can serve as a central hub for people to engage in food politics and enact change.

Highlights

Introduction and Literature ReviewThe global food policy of recent decades could be described as a “race to the bottom,” as governments apply amoral principles of neoliberalism in Author noteThis research was first presented at the American Association of Geographers conference in Boston, Mass., in April 2017.Volume 8, Issue 1 / Spring 2018search of the cheapest places and ways to produce food, with little attention paid to the justice aspects of food production and distribution (Carolan, 2013)
Background on food policy councils (FPCs) We focused on three FPCs in the mid-Atlantic region: the Adams County FPC, the Baltimore Food Policy Action Coalition (PAC), and the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council (FPAC)
Both Baltimore Food PAC and Philadelphia FPAC are in urban settings that suffer from food desertification and food access inequities

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Literature ReviewThe global food policy of recent decades could be described as a “race to the bottom,” as governments apply amoral principles of neoliberalism in Author noteThis research was first presented at the American Association of Geographers conference in Boston, Mass., in April 2017.Volume 8, Issue 1 / Spring 2018search of the cheapest places and ways to produce food, with little attention paid to the justice aspects of food production and distribution (Carolan, 2013). In the midst of this jostling for food policy space, the voices of citizens are often unheard This is problematic, as food issues like food insecurity—the inability to acquire nutritionally adequate and safe foods—remain a serious problem for many American. We focused on three FPCs in the mid-Atlantic region: the Adams County FPC, the Baltimore Food Policy Action Coalition (PAC), and the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council (FPAC) Their founding stories and different structures made them ideal case studies for understanding how structure might precede function. Adams County FPC is located in Gettysburg, in the heart of what is regionally known as the “fruit belt” of Pennsylvania, where approximately 70% of Pennsylvania’s apple crop is produced Both Baltimore Food PAC and Philadelphia FPAC are in urban settings that suffer from food desertification and food access inequities.

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