The Climate Crisis and Cities: “Think Locally, Act Regionally”: NYC’s Regional Approach to Local Food Policy
City food policy is proving to be an agile tool in building sustainable food systems. Due to their purchasing power, cities have considerable opportunities to impact a broad range of environmental, economic, and social goals. The City Food Policy Project, a collaborative research project guided by partners in New York City government, New York State farmers, and other supply chain stakeholders, is working to develop the empirical tools that inform how cities understand tradeoffs associated with food procurement policies. In focusing on regional linkages, the CFP Project modeling approach allows researchers to simulate a variety of potential changes to New York City food procurement policies and observe the resulting effects throughout various stages of the supply chain that may affect environmental and economic outcomes.
Session 1: “Think Locally, Act Regionally”: NYC’s Regional Approach to Local Food Policy Increasingly, municipalities across the world are recognizing both their capacity and fundamental responsibility to utilize public dollars and local policy to meet global sustainable development goals. However, these policies are not without tradeoffs and the best solutions may require engaging and co-creating programs with key regional actors. Recognizing the power of a regional approach to local policy, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has distributed millions in funding to regional farmers in the New York City watershed to support best management practices and conservation easements. In 2021, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (NYC MOFP) launched a 10-year food plan, Food Forward NYC, which includes a values-based food procurement initiative to steer the city’s budget of more than $500 million annually in food purchases to New York State vendors. As part of the City Food Policy Project, MOFP is working with upstate producers to also understand how they would respond to different local procurement decisions. In addition, MOFP is working with leaders across local and state government, including the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and representatives from the state House and Senate to explore new collaborations and advance shared policy goals.
Session 2: The Research-Policy Integration / Feedback Loop The role of research for policy decision making and impact evaluation Significant opportunity exists for researchers to support and inform policymakers in understanding implications and tradeoffs of their decisions, yet challenges exist. This panel brings together New York-based researchers working to understand climate impacts of proposed and enacted food policies in New York City. Session 3: Understanding the role of City Food Policy at a Global Level Putting public procurement food policies into a global context Place-based solutions to global goals are receiving significant attention in international fora, including in the UN Summit of the Future during the General Assembly this September. Urban and regional governments have proven to have political agility, which can allow for rapid response to complex challenges. For city food policy, values-based procurement tools, coupled with investment in market infrastructure systems to support regional producers, can help local urban and rural communities apply solutions to crises, including those related to climate.