The toolkit is designed to aid individuals and groups, including local food advocates and nonprofit organizations such as local food policy councils, working to change their local food system. This toolkit was created to provide a starting place for these individuals and groups to understand basic legal concepts surrounding local food systems, develop a base of knowledge about the main policy areas, and be inspired by innovative policy solutions from other cities and states.
The updates to the toolkit since 2012 reflect the ways that the field of food policy has changed since first version of the toolkit was published in 2012. FPLC researchers added two new sections to the toolkit on food procurement and efforts to reduce the waste of food, as well as new examples of policy innovations and initiatives from communities across the United States. Other topics covered in the toolkit include the general legal setting surrounding food policy, local food infrastructure, land use planning and regulation, urban agriculture, consumer access and demand, and school food and nutrition.
Created by: Emma Clippinger, Ona Balkus, Christina Rice, Annika Nielsen, and Emily Broad Leib.