The Food Policy Audit: A New Tool for Community Food System Planning

O’Brien, Jennifer; Cobb, Tanya Denckla

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2012.023.002

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This focus is timely, as the 2024 omnibus farm bill promises a new opportunity to revisit current food systems leadership strategies and policies designed to enhance food and nutrition security, community health outcomes, and environmental sustainability [15]. Furthermore, research suggests that improved diversity and inclusion in food systems leadership is an important element of successful long-term municipal planning and policy objectives [16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Importance Of Diversity Equity and Inclusion In The Us Food ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are chiefly viewed as advisors on local governance and decision-making processes related to the food systems priorities of diverse stakeholders [37,38,46]. FPCs are also frequently viewed as catalysts for creating and maintaining collaborations between municipal governments and other stakeholders in support of at-risk communities, including the effective collaboration between local and regional food producers and food consumers [18,21,26,27]. Given these challenging bridge-building roles, the effectiveness of FPCs requires their ability to successfully navigate the diversity and inclusion challenges faced by food systems stakeholders in urban communities [16,43,44,47].…”

Section: Building Inclusive and Effective Food Systems Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring the Effectiveness of Food Policy Councils in Major Cities in the United States

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O’Hara

Jeffery

et al. 2023

Foods

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The United States food system is comprised of a diversity of stakeholders representing a range of sectors including agriculture, health, hospitality, and other sectors of the economy. Coordinating these wide-ranging aspects of the food system is a challenging responsibility of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its counterparts at the state and county level. While the USDA acknowledges the institutional importance of diversity, it has only recently begun to meaningfully consider the agricultural needs of urban environments, the unique experiences from communities of color, and opportunities for urban agriculture in its purview. This study provides a framework for food systems leaders, specifically in food policy councils (FPCs) in large urban communities, to assess the visibility and effectiveness of their diversity and inclusion initiatives represented across three key domains: (1) leadership and governance structures, (2) key stakeholder engagement strategies, and (3) advance food justice. A cluster analysis of the study results for FPCs in 19 U.S. cities and metropolitan areas across these three domains revealed four distinct groups of food policy councils. Results from the assessment of the urban FPCs reveal that they succeed in embedding diversity and inclusion in all three diversity measures, with key stakeholder engagement receiving the highest score at 73%. On average, FPCs received a score of 54% when assessing diversity and inclusion in their leadership and governance and a score of 49% in their activities to advance food justice. Results of the analysis also highlights opportunities to improve individual, thematic, and cumulative scores. Participation from food systems leadership groups such as food policy councils will be vital in advocating for equitable food systems through urban producer and consumer programs in the upcoming reauthorization of the U.S. farm bill in 2024.

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Section: Importance Of Diversity Equity and Inclusion In The Us Food ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Building Inclusive and Effective Food Systems Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Effectiveness of Food Policy Councils in Major Cities in the United States

Range

O’Hara

Jeffery

et al. 2023

Foods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Health impact assessment is another tool that can be used for informing agriculture, food, and nutrition decisions (Cowling, Lindberg, Dannenberg, Neff, & Pollack, 2017). Likewise, a food policy audit can be performed to directly assess the presence or absence of important foodbased policy provisions related to health, economic development, environment, equity, and land conservation (O'Brien & Denckla Cobb, 2012).…”

Section: Food Systems Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Considering the Role of Life Cycle Analysis in Holistic Food Systems Research Policy and Practice

Berardy

Seager

Costello

et al. 2020

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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Researchers use life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of foods, providing useful information to other researchers, policy-makers, consumers, and manufacturers. However, LCA is ill-equipped to account for desirable, often normatively valued, characteristics of food systems, such as redundancy, that could be considered more sustainable from a resilience perspective. LCA's requirement of a functional unit also causes methodological bias favoring efficiency over resilience and other difficult-to-quantify properties. This efficiency bias results in favorable evaluations of conventional production techniques and plant-based foods since they typically have the lowest impacts per unit of output when compared to alternative agriculture systems and animal-based foods. Such research findings may drive policymakers as well as consumers to prefer the more efficient options, with the possible outcome of diminishing resilience. This research and policy commentary explains why complementary assessment methodologies are necessary for comprehensive sustainability assessments that support a *

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“…Many authors cite the efficacy of stakeholder assessments in mapping complex situations with multiple stakeholder groups to provide insights into the stakeholders' values and viewpoints (Campbell & Rampold, 2021;Garcia-Gonzalez & Eakin, 2019;O'Brien & Denckla Cobb, 2012;Saint Ville et al, 2017;Sanyé-Mengual et al, 2016;van den Hove, 2006). This approach explains the responsibilities of organizations and individuals who play significant roles within the system (Reed et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a community-based local food system in Will County, Illinois: insights from stakeholders' viewpoints

Ben-Othmen

Kavouras

2022

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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The interest in and enthusiasm for shifting food systems to community-based and local trajectories have increased exponentially over the past decade. Part of the appeal of community-based, local food systems is their potential to secure access to healthy food for local communities, expand sustainable farming practices, promote local food economies, and advance environmental and food justice. Interactions and collaborations within the spectrum of the food system’s stakeholders—from farmers to local officials and organizations to local businesses and residents—are the cornerstone for effective food systems tailored to their community’s needs. An increasing number of food system studies have applied stakeholder assessment approaches to map out complex situations among multiple stakeholder groups with different values and viewpoints regarding food system change. However, despite being an essential and influential political unit to target, counties have received very little attention in food system studies, as researchers and practitioners often focus on the federal and state levels of intervention to design food policies. This study examined the food system in Will County, Illinois, by applying the advocacy coalition framework and using a qualitative, semi-structured survey to engage a diverse set of stakeholders. The answers to the survey questions offered insights into three overlapping and divergent Will County stakeholder viewpoints (Pragmatic, Environmental and Food Justice Advocate, and Visionary), with the intent of informing and enacting food system transformation at the county level. The discussion within this paper focuses on coalition-building and collaboration between formal and informal groups to empower local communities to develop a distinctive food system identity that promotes community support, collaborative networks, and food justice at the county level.

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The Food Policy Audit: A New Tool for Community Food System Planning

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Measuring the Effectiveness of Food Policy Councils in Major Cities in the United States

Measuring the Effectiveness of Food Policy Councils in Major Cities in the United States

Considering the Role of Life Cycle Analysis in Holistic Food Systems Research Policy and Practice

Developing a community-based local food system in Will County, Illinois: insights from stakeholders' viewpoints

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