Measurably increase institutional buying and sales of foods and fibers that are local, Minnesota-grown, organic, healthy, humanely raised, and grown by fairly compensated growers.
Best Practice of this action
Keywords
schools
Rating Guideline
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Document and provide information to the public about city efforts to increase purchases of food with at least one of the following attributes: local, Minnesota-grown, organic, humanely raised, grown by fairly compensated growers; support a Local Food Campaign and document outcomes. |
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Report increased sales of local/etc. food through groceries and restaurants; document increased institutional buying of local/etc. foods by schools, hospitals, nursing homes and event centers; document increased percent of households able to access fresh fruit/vegetables within 20-minutes walk, bike, transit travel of their home. Report mobility improvements under BP 12. |
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Adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program as a city, school district, or other public institution; implement a Healthy Corners Initiative and/or incentivize local businesses to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for sale; create a city health/nutrition policy with healthy/local food goals and implementation plans. Report food system assessments and plans under BPA 27.5. |
Resources
- The Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) in Minnesota help connect cities with resources to strengthen local food economies. Submit an idea to RSDP to request support for a community-driven project for local food.
- Healthy Food, Healthy Communities (PolicyLink, 2011) provides strategies for communities to increase access, work with local businesses, and connect local farmers to customers.
- Purchasing:
- Farm to School resources from MN Extension or contact the Regional Marketing Specialist (kate.seybold@state.mn.us) at the MN Dept. of Agriculture for assistance.
- The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a metric-based, flexible framework that encourages cities and other public institutions to direct their purchasing toward five core values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition.
- Access:
- Communities can support corner convenience stores to encourage healthy eating habits through the sale of fresh and local fruits and vegetables. See Healthy Corner Stores Guide (USDA 2016), and examples and resources from Healthy Food Access.
- See Minneapolis' Healthy Corner Store pilot project.
- The USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative provides grants to improve access to healthy foods in underserved areas, create and preserve quality jobs, and revitalize low-income communities.
- The MDA’s Good Food Access Program provides grants to rural grocery stores, corner stores, and other small food retailers to purchase equipment and make store improvements that will help increase access to healthy, local food to underserved community members.
- See recommendations from the National League of Cities for cities looking to update their regulations for mobile food vending.
- The Safe Routes Partnership has resources to help cities create neighborhoods with safe routes to all kinds of destinations, including sources of local food.
- Developing safe routes to healthy food by improving sidewalks, bike trails, and public transit routes can improve access and buying potential. See BP 12: Mobility Options.
- Communities can support corner convenience stores to encourage healthy eating habits through the sale of fresh and local fruits and vegetables. See Healthy Corner Stores Guide (USDA 2016), and examples and resources from Healthy Food Access.
- Rural & Co-op Grocery Stores:
- Rural grocery stores are anchor businesses in communities of 2,500 or fewer residents that provide a full range of fresh, frozen and shelf-stable foods. To gain a deeper understanding about this sector, RSDP worked with the UMN Center for Survey Research to conduct a statewide survey of rural grocers in 2020.
- Farm to Grocery Toolkit: Opening New Farm to Grocery Market Channels to Help Increase Access to Minnesota Speciality Crops and Local Foods (UMN Extension, 2020)
- Find 8 tips to help small town grocery stores and 3 ways rural communities are keeping stores open from the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska
- The Rural Grocery Initiative (Kansas State University) has a toolkit, certification program, network, and more
- The Food Co-op Initiative Program based in Savage, MN helps develop new retail grocery co-ops, which sometimes access financing through USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant program.
- Improving Energy Efficiency in Convenience Stores (MN Dept. of Commerce, 2013) recommends a program design that cities could urge their local utility to deploy to help cut business costs.
Order Number
4
Action Type
Finite