Food Policy Resources

In 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021, the Center for Regional Food Systems and the Wallace Center at Winrock International conducted the National Food Hub Survey to identify economic growth trends for food hubs across the nation and monitor changes in services offered and the variety of customers served. These surveys help shape national understanding of food hubs and inform policy and program initiatives; gain greater exposure for food hubs nationally; and inform new potential relationships between food hubs and investors, grant makers and other food hubs looking to find success.

Since 2013, the California Food Policy Council, Roots of Change, and now the California Food and Farming Network have produced an annual report summarizing relevant state food and farm bills and the status of those bills at the end of the state legislative session, and analyzing the performance of California state legislators and the governor related to food and agriculture policies.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps brings actionable data, evidence, guidance and stories to support community-led efforts to grow community power and improve health equity. Works to improve health outcomes for all and close health gaps between those with the most and fewest opportunities for good health. The project includes resources and tools that support community-led efforts to accurately diagnose core problems, understand and account for historical context and implement evidence-informed solutions.

The Healthy Food Access Portal brings together the rapidly growing body of research, best practices, resources, and policy information for community members, practitioners, advocates, entrepreneurs, and others who are committed to ensuring that all communities have equitable access to healthy, quality, affordable food. The Portal provides a one-stop shop for a wide range of research and technical support tools, successful stories and examples of policy and practice in action, and up-to-date information on the development of federal, state, and local food access policies.

Various public and private institutions purchase, serve, and sell food to specific populations. Such institutions include schools, universities, healthcare facilities, shelters, correctional facilities, and agencies that provide free meals to people with low-incomes. These entities are a consistent source of food for millions of people in the United States. They hold significant purchasing power that could be better leveraged to support healthy eating. Implementing healthy food service guidelines is an evidence-based strategy to improve the food environment in these settings. The toolkit provides resources to support the improvement of food and beverage options served and sold through vending machines, cafeterias, concession stands, meetings, and events.

This guide provides an in-depth look at dozens of federal programs and policies most important to sustainable agriculture, and details how they can be accessed by farmers, ranchers, and grassroots organizations nationwide. This guide is organized into ten chapters, along with a quick-reference overview chart, glossary, and additional resources page.

A self-evaluation tool for leaders to measure the participation, decision-making, cohesiveness, productivity, and general organization of their meeting procedures.

A chart to guide strategic plan development.

The Healthy Food Policy Project identifies and elevates local laws that seek to promote access to healthy food while also contributing to strong local economies, an improved environment, and health equity, with a focus on socially disadvantaged and marginalized groups. The site contains a curated, searchable database of local food policies organized by food system category and type of law, and case studies that showcase healthy food policy initiatives around the country.

This scoring sheet helps FPCs plan their policy intervention priorities based on a feasibility ranking.

Created by: Mark Winne.

This annotated bibliography provides current research on structural racism in the U.S. food system for practitioners, researchers, and educators. Structural racism in the United States has been defined as the “normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics—historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal—that routinely advantage whites while producing cumulative and chronic outcomes for people of color.” This resources crowdsources references in an ever-growing listing of literature that links the social construction of whiteness and its intentional or consequential impact on structural racism within the United States’ food movement. A 9th edition of the bibliography was published in 2022 featuring more than 500 citations.

Created by Rachel Kelly, Rich Pirog, Kimberly Carr, Anel Guel, Jane Henderson, Kyeesha Wilcox, Taylor Wimberg, Vanessa García Polanco, Daniel Babayode, Kelsey Watson, and Emettra Nelson

In 2011, the New York City Council established reporting requirements for a variety of City agency initiatives related to food through Local Law 52 of 2011. The Food Metrics Report provides a snapshot of data from those programs as well as trends over time. The report has expanded every year to include the broad range of programs and initiatives that the City is doing to address food insecurity; improve City food procurement and food service, increase healthy food access and awareness, and support a more sustainable and just food system.  

The Food Policy Council Consultant List is a roster of consultants engaged in food systems work that have a particular interest in working with food policy councils. The list contains information provided by each consultant about their policy areas of expertise, organizational development experience, technical skills, and geographic areas of previous work.

If you are a consultant who would like to be added to the Consultant List, please complete the questionnaire here.

Policy is often touted as the great equalizer, creating opportunities for all, regardless of their race. Yet evaluating a policy's capacity to address racial equity is not easy. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future hosted a webinar on July 13, 2022, to discuss two examples of how to assess and evaluate policy to promote racial equity. Dr. Keshia Porter Pollack, Chair for Department of Health, Policy and Management at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shared her experience working with a group of students to assess the Maryland Farms and Families Fund. Moriah Bell, Willow Cozzens, and Hallie Nelson from the Jefferson County (CO) Food Policy Council shared a tool that their council created to evaluate policies for racial equity. 

Presented by: Dr. Keshia Porter Pollack, Moriah Bell, Willow Cozzens, and Hallie Nelson.

States have the primary authority to create laws that affect the public health and safety of their residents and to control commerce within state lines. This report is intended to serve as a guide for home cooks, policymakers, and advocates, to provide an at-a-glance guide to cottage food and home kitchen laws throughout the country.  As of 2021, all 50 states have expanded upon this exemption in their state laws in various ways to allow for the limited sale of certain foods produced at home.

Prepared by Regina Paparo and Patrick Montgomery.

501(c)(3) public charities can lobby within the generous limits allowed by federal law. This fact sheet explains the two tests charities can use to measure their lobbying.

On March 25, 2021, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future’s Food Policy Networks project hosted a roundtable about shared gifting with the Maine Network of Community Food Councils, Michigan Local Food Council Network, Community Food Strategies in North Carolina and the University of Minnesota Extension food networks. State network representatives discussed how each network became involved with shared gifting, what makes their processes work, and what they recommend doing differently.

This webinar highlights lessons learned from four different food system mapping projects, three state-wide maps‚ Maryland, Colorado, and Ohio, and a county-level map from New York. Each project provides a brief introduction to their mapping application as well as a live demo. There is also a facilitated discussion about the value of maps, their limitations, tips and lessons learned, examples of how the maps have been used, and the future of food system mapping.

Presented by:

Becca Jablonski, Associate Professor and Food Systems Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University.

Sean Quigley, Technologies Program Manager, Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University.

Wajihah Baig, GIS Technology Specialist, Knowledge Exchange, The Ohio State University.

Linnea Carlson, Director, Jamestown Public Market and Chair, Chautauqua County Food Policy Council.

Melissa Keller, Planner, Chautauqua County Dept. of Planning & Development and Member, Chautauqua County Food Policy Council.

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future‚ Food Policy Networks project hosted this webinar on June 22, 2020, with food policy leaders from four cities who talked about their experiences managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn about what strategies were in place before the pandemic, how their cities developed and implemented strategies to respond, the role of the community in their work, and what have they learned thus far. The presenters all hold positions within government and are members of the United States Conference of Mayors food policy working group. 

Presented by: Holly Freishtat, Food Policy Director, Baltimore, Maryland; Milele P. Kennedy, Food Policy and Program Coordinator, Indianapolis, Indiana; Edwin Marty, Food Policy Manager, Austin, Texas; and Latha Swamy, Food Systems Policy Director, New Haven, Connecticut.

The New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council is a democratically based organization, composed of a variety of groups and individuals, working on issues arising from the food and agriculture systems. The Internal Governance documents outlines the mission, vision, goals, membership and other rules of the Council.