Western Adaptation Alliance Regional Leadership Academy Enhancing the Resilience of Sustainable Food Systems through Adaptive Water Management in the American

Western Adaptation Alliance

Regional Leadership Academy

Enhancing the Resilience of Sustainable Food Systems through Adaptive Water

Management in the American West

May 5-7, 2014

Clinic: A Roadmap for City Food Sector Innovation and Investment

Moderator: Steve Adams, ISC

Presenter: Cynthia Pansing, Changing Tastes

Session Format

• An interactive session designed to help your team take stock of where you’ve been and where you are going.

About the Report

An archived webinar providing a full overview of the report is available at www.ngfn.org/cityfoodsector

The Roadmap is…

…a guidance document to help cities focus and develop investment strategies to increase the number of new innovations and ventures in their local food systems, and to better the odds of their survival and success.

Partners

• City/County of San Francisco (lead), cities of Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver

• Consultants Changing Tastes and Wallace Center at Winrock International

• Funded by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network from Surdna, Summit and JPB Foundations grants

6

Project Approach

Literature Review and Team Input

Asset Inventory/

Gap Analysis

Tools and Strategies

Impact and Screening

Metrics

Action Plan Framework

Roadmap for Food System Innovation

and Investment

How Innovation and Investment Benefit Cities and the Food System

Strengthening the food

system

Strengthening

metropolitan areas and enhancing resilience

Investment in food system

innovations in metropolitan

areas

Enhancing economic

development

Economic

benefits

Social benefits

8

Employment Growth by Industry:February 2010 – February 2012

Total

US E

mpl

oym

ent

Arts,

Enter

tain

men

t & R

ecre

aton

Retai

l Tra

de

Accom

odat

ions

Foods

ervice

0.0%1.0%2.0%3.0%4.0%5.0%6.0%

Key Facts on Job Creation and Economic Benefits

• Large share of economy: 8.3% of total GDP in 2011

• High job creation: food services created 30% of all new jobs in US in 2012, with each creating .45 to .78 additional jobs

• Small business creation: 91% of food businesses have fewer than 50 employees

• High risk: 60% of food related businesses fail within one year of launch. 90% fail within five years, 3% of new food grocery products remain in market after one yearFactors like these together with the other findings from the Literature Review

provide the business case for Investment in local food systems to help Elected Officials make investment decisions and compare food systems investments to other opportunities.

10

Characteristics of Food Sector Locally and Nationally

• High consumer demand: for local, sustainable and organic, increasing rapidly among retailers/consumers

• Most local supply near metro areas: 80% of small farms selling local food in/adjacent to

• Supply under strain: unpredictable weather events and potential supply disruptions

• Significant contributor to/risk from climate change: accounts for 10-17% of GHG

• Water management: local and regional constraining factor

• Risk: increasingly role of environmental factors

• Role of local governments: increasingly important role in strengthening/stabilizing food sector and innovation

11

Key Report Findings

• Increased and sustained demand for local food

• Shifts in local/sustainable food business ownership

• Uneven quality in wages for new food sector jobs

• Production and processing yield highest local multiplier effects with highest wages

• Investment risk is comparable to other sectors

• Continued research needed to gauge success of recent innovations and business models

12

Innovation Categories

Critical Success Factors for Local Policy and Financial Investments

• Systems approach• Supportive policies and streamlined services such

as procurement policies and incentives• Supportive infrastructure (aggregation, processing,

distribution) - *asset mapping• Favorable political climate • Infrastructure • Strong relationships with suppliers • Local branding • Business/technical assistance • Seed capital • Healthy food marketing campaigns• Community involvement

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How Can Cities/Local Governments Spur Innovation/Investment in Food Sector?

• Technical assistance• Direct public financing• Land/water use policies• Food safety regulations• Straightforward and streamlined

services

Examples of Local Government Support for Local Foods Planning and Investment

• Tax credits • Streamlining permitting and/or making it flexible for

food business operations• Zoning/land/water use changes • Vacant publicly-owned/managed building space, land,

water and/or other resources• Public land banks or conservancies• Innovation clusters/zones through zoning, tax credits,

CDBG, grants and private investment• Procurement policies for local food purchase• Marketing healthy local foods• Private lender, investment capital• Small food business training/technical assistance • Large scale up potential of composting or recovery

models

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Step 1.

Your assignment: Take 10 minutes with your team to discuss

To what extent does your city have a vision for investment and innovation in the food sector?

5 Steps to Food Sector Innovation Planning and Evaluation

Step 1: Visioning

To create a vision for your city’s role in food sector investment, questions might include:

• What kind of future food system/sector do we want?

• How do we create it?• What do success and/or progress

look like?

Step 2. Mapping Assets and Gaps- Inventory of Food Related Assets

• City compiles an inventory and map of food related assets. Such assets include:

– Human capital- capacities and skills of people..

– Social capital- rules, relationships, networks…

– Financial capital – monetary resources– Physical capital - manufactured items and

built infrastructure– Natural capital - naturally occurring,

ecological resources

Asset Mapping and Assessment

• Business Training• Food Start Up

Incubators• Food Sector Innovation

Clusters• Community Prep

Kitchens

• Direct investment

• Tax incentives• Connecting

Angel Investors to Entrepreneurs

• Bank and loan officer education

• Food Hubs• Infrastructure

• Food Policy Councils

• Procurement Policies

• Streamlined Permitting

• Urban Land Assembly

• Ag Land preservation

• Water

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Step 2.


To what extent does your city have an asset-gap inventory?

What are some of the assets that you have?

What are some of the key gaps?

Step 3. Assessing Options

• To support this step, the report includes:

– Investment Evaluation Tool– Risk Management Tool

These tools are available at: www.ngfn.org/cityfoodsector

Investment Evaluation

Financial Return:

What is the return on Public Investment?

Jobs:

How many, how good and at what cost?

Local Food System:

Does the venture play a key role?

Acceptable Risk?What are the odds this will

go as planned?

Worthwhile?On balance, does this make

sense for our city?

Food Access:

Will this increase access to healthy & sustainable food?

Sample Project to Evaluate:CityLights Urban Rooftop Greenhouse

• CityLights is a start up company that puts greenhouses on top of warehouses to grow fresh leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs.

• It needs $2M in startup funding.

• The city also would need to create a new zoning category to allow for this use.

• Within 3 years it expects to generate $3M in sales, $857K in payroll, and employ 30 people in two greenhouse operations, with average wages of $14/hour.

• The management team now works for a large grocer and has good experience.

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Investment Evaluation and Risk Management Tools: City Lights Application

Financial Return:


283%

Jobs:

How many, how good and at what cost?

30 people - $14/hr avg$857K annual payroll

Local Food System:


Yes


go as planned?


sense for our city?

Food Access:


Yes

26

Investment Evaluation and Risk Management Tools: City Lights Application

Financial Return:


283%

Jobs:

How Many, How Good and at What Cost?

30 people - $14/hr avg$857K annual payroll

Local Food System:


Yes


go as planned?

Food Access:


Yes

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sense for our city?

15-17% chance of failure235% adjusted ROI

Step 3.


How does your city currently assess its options and choose which strategies to pursue?

How does this differ across city departments?

Step 4. Planning and Implementing

Step 4.


What are some of the tools and strategies that your city is considering?

How do these relate to your assets? How do these connect food, water

and climate adaptation?

Step 5. Evaluation

• Clarify and prioritize what is important to city and why

• Balance what is needed for decisionmaking, monitoring and evaluating outcomes

• Select manageable number of indicators (<10) that align city’s vision, goals and desired outcomes

• Address social, economic and environmental sustainability

Examples: % of residents who are food secure, acres of city land used for food production, number of sustainable small businesses/jobs created, amount of energy or water conserved, etc.

Step 5.


What, if any, metrics is your city tracking?

What baseline metrics would be helpful to have as you implement your strategy?

Clinic Wrap Up

Report back/larger group discussion for 10-15 minutes

What were key takeaways from group discussions?

What do they reveal about how to draw together development/implementation of food, water and climate adaptation plans/strategies?

Where are there gaps, barriers and opportunities?

Documents

Western Adaptation Alliance Regional Leadership Academy Enhancing the Resilience of Sustainable Food Systems through Adaptive Water Management in the American