Developing and Implementing

Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy

Food Service – An Engine for Food System ChangeInstitutional food purchasing at mission-

driven orgs

• Universities & colleges• Hospitals and healthcare• Schools

Why a Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy?

• Farm to college projects initiatives across North America

• Success in building awareness, educating, rallying support

• But . . . Projects have limitations• Economic• Environmental• Institutional

Food Policy: The 85% Solution

Benefits of moving from project to policy• Institutionalization of initiatives• Creates framework to support RFPs,

contracts• Rationalizes incentives for change of

suppliers• Addresses some supply chain challenges• Provides clear path and sets expectations

for ramp-up

The Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy Guidance Project

The Policy Guidance Project

3 Primary Objectives• Collect and share sample policies and

language• Outline policy options and implications for

institutions and food system• Share insight on development process,

implementation and evaluation

Sustainability?

Economy

EnvironmentCommunity

Sustainable Agriculture

Family Farms & Minority Owned Businesses

Labor Conditions

Animal Welfare

Toxicity – Pesticides & Health

Antibiotics & Hormones

Soil and Water Conservation

Genetically Modified Organisms

Locally Grown Foods

Wildlife Habitat

Getting Started Developing a Vision

Assessing Opportunity Benchmarking Setting goals

Communicating expectationsSecuring Commitments

Evaluating ProgressLooking to the Future

Covering the Policy Bases

Getting Started

When is the right time for policy?• Start from a point of project success• Ensure adequate stakeholder involvement• Garner support from institutional leaders

and key stakeholders

Developing a VisionWhat are our priority concerns?• Consider the full range of issues• Don’t mistake means and ends

Assessing Opportunity

Understand the system, capacity limits of institution and partners to establish strategies

• What is possible?• What are the easy wins?• Where can we make a real difference?• Who do we need to engage?

Benchmarking

How do we define success?• Adopt definitions• Determine how to evaluate claims• Identify baseline of how institution is

currently performing

Setting Goals

• Where are we going?• How fast can we get there?

Communicating Expectations

• General communications• RFP / RFQ• Competitive bid process – weighting

sustainability

Securing Commitments

Contracting with service providers and suppliers

• Reporting requirements• Rewards• Penalties

Assessing Progress

Evaluating reports and progress• How frequent?• Who will be involved?

Looking to the Future

• Mid-stream course corrections• New opportunities• New goals

Some Preliminary Guidance

Be specific in defining standards Watch out for problematic terms

Understand the difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd party claims

Some Preliminary Guidance

Think carefully about expectations for monitoring and verification. Who will have responsibility for assessing and reporting

compliance?

Some Preliminary Guidance

Tie your objectives to the institutional mission

Take a holistic approach to policyEx: don’t separate health and environment

concerns

Sustainable Food Purchasing Policy Information

Project status report• Interviews complete• Begun assessing the findings• Complete policy guidance document

available by end of 2006.• www.sustainablefoodpolicy.org

Panelist Introductions

• Loel Solomon, Kaiser Permanente

• John Turenne, Sustainable Food Systems

• Jamie Moore, Eat’n Park Hospitality Group

Getting Started Developing a Vision

Assessing Opportunity Benchmarking Setting goals

Communicating expectationsSecuring Commitments

Evaluating ProgressLooking to the Future

Covering the Policy Bases