The role of food policy councils in developing sustainable food systems

Abstract

Over the past 3 decades, several public and private organizations have fostered the creation of cross-sectoral "food policy councils" (FPCs) to engage and educate among a broad range of public, private, and academic institutions on theory and components necessary to the development of more sustainable food systems. Through an examination of data drawn from interviews with 13 food policy councils in the United States and Canada, this article examines the emerging role of FPCs in developing sustainable food systems. A grounded theory approach was utilized in collecting and analyzing information related to the organizational role of FPCs. Findings from interviews reflect on the overall "food policy council" concept and the role of these organizations in relation to government, policy change, facilitation, networking, and education. Significantly, interviews also indicated that FPCs actually focus more attention on programmatic as opposed to policy work. © 2008 by The Haworth Press.