What is Food Policy?

Broadly defined, food policy is a set of collective decisions made by businesses, organizations and governments (at all levels) that affect how food gets from the farm to your table.

A food policy can be as broad as a federal regulation on food labeling or as local and specific as a zoning law that lets city dwellers raise honeybees. Decisions range from formal pieces of legislation to voluntary guidelines and administrative processes that allow for certain programs to flourish.

Mission:

The mission of the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council is to advance a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system for all within Greater Cincinnati’s ten-county region through policy, systems and environment change.

Objectives:

• Create a forum that brings together stakeholders from all segments of the food system to generate new relationships and share best practices.

• Initiate research and recommend policies that increase food security in communities as well as social and economic opportunities for food producers, distributors, and consumers throughout the region.

• Advocate for food security through a regional food system development agenda at the city, county and regional levels.

• Serve as a resource to the community to assist in local food system development programs and projects related to health and nutrition, land use, food waste recovery, community food assessment and local purchasing.

Current Work:

Full council meetings take place every other month. These meetings are open to the public.

We currently have four Impact Teams associated with the Food Policy Council:

• Healthy Soils
• Healthy Food Access and Consumption
• Farm to School
• Food Waste

To find out more information or to get involved please contact Michaela Oldfield or attend a full council meeting (where you can connect with the team leaders).