Developing Regional Food Hubs To Strengthen Local & Regional Food Systems
Posted 20 June 2011, Staff, United States Conference of Mayors, usmayors.org
Excerpt from ADOPTED RESOLUTIONS, 79th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF MAYORS, Baltimore, MD – June 17-21, 2011, Pages 154 & 155
WHEREAS, cities across the United States are grappling with related crises of obesity, poverty and hunger; and
WHEREAS, diet-related diseases impose enormous public health and economic costs on cities largely due to the lack of affordable, healthy food options and overabundance of unhealthy foods in food desert neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, experts estimate that if present trends continue, midsize farms will drastically decrease over the next several years; and
WHEREAS, the public health, environmental, social, and economic consequences of our current food system demand a compelling and critical call to action; and
WHEREAS, local and regional food systems can offer many benefits including
1) improvedhealth and well-being of communities,
2) increased access to healthy, high quality affordable food,
3) contribute to a thriving local economy including job creation, and
4) protecting and strengthening biodiversity and natural resources; and
WHEREAS, Regional Food Hubs are an emerging business model that offers aggregation and distribution services for small and midsize producers and are critical infrastructure for expanding local and regional food systems as an economic development, public health, and environmental strategy; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture supports the development of local and regional food systems to address health disparities related to limited healthy food availability, while creating new markets for regional farmers; and
WHEREAS, the USDA established a Regional Food Hub Tactical Team to examine how coordinated food hubs can play an important role in eradicating food deserts by expanding the availability and affordability of fresh, healthful and locally-produced food; and the USDA recently released the results of a nationwide analysis on regional food hubs; and
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the USDA in their commitment to improving healthy food access in food desert neighborhoods and strengthening regional food systems through the creation of regional food hubs; and
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors urges Mayors to support the development of Regional Food Hubs that include the following components:
• Increased access to “good food” — food that is healthy, affordable, fairly and sustainably grown — for underserved communities and expanded direct-to consumer sales for farmers in food desert neighborhoods;
• Infrastructure development that enables local institutions such as schools, municipal agencies, hospitals, restaurants, corner stores, and other retail outlets to increase their local food procurement;
• Expanded markets for small and midsize local growers;
• Good job creation throughout the food chain;
• Streamlined local purchasing for customers to purchase source-verified local foods, which are grown and distributed with decreased environmental impact; and
• Increased education of residents about available nutrition assistance programs and emerging market outlets; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the nation’s Mayors support the stated goals of Regional Food Hubs and will work in partnership with public and private leaders in advancing this effort.
http://usmayors.org/79thAnnualMeeting/documents/AdoptedResolutions.pdf
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