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Sustainable Food Procurement Initiative >

OBJECTIVES:

To define and integrate relevant sustainable food procurement criteria into institutional practices. The creation of the SFPI toolkit as a resource hub of food procurement for diverse types of consumers, offering definitions and criteria, as well as process and technical assistance, genuinely allowing customization and encouraging adoption entirely or incrementally.

The SFPI Toolkit will act as a catalyst by providing technical assistance for the implementation of a strategic shift to align environmental, health, and political/social values with sustainable food. The toolkit will also demonstrate economic feasibility and offer complementary technical assistance in identifying and developing sources of authentically sustainable food.

To use the SFPI to assemble and facilitate cross-sector partnerships and collaborative efforts among foodservice and foodservice customers to promote procurement of sustainable foods, understand its value, and provide evaluation and development input.

The SFPI necessitates the continued development of relationships within food production, distribution, and service. In addition to developing practical tools co-operatively, the SFPI has two additional tasks. First, it must demonstrate to distributors, planners, and venues, that demand for sustainable foods exists and is growing. Secondly, that working to meet this supply is a productive, long-term business decision that retains customers, reaches out to new clients, and differentiates them in a highly competitive industry – i.e., that it is good business.

To disseminate information to a variety of media outlets highlighting progress and magnifying the cumulative impact of institutions’ and organizations’ efforts and commitments to sustainable food.

The SFPI will publicize sustainable food procurement activities of all parties involved, from “seed to table.” Comprehensive media, internet, and mailing campaigns as well as events will promulgate increased attention and activities.

To create a living resource to assist in identifying specific producers who are meeting consumer’s criteria. This may take the form of a multi-tiered compilation addressing the numerous issues from reliable supply and volume, to price.

SFPI intends to play a role in brokering conversations along the value chain to facilitate the most effective mode of transition. Approaching sustainable food procurement both incrementally and systemically, facilitating such shifts in food service as possible by slowly replacing conventionally-produced products, and simultaneously demonstrating to producers and processors that markets for their products not only exist but are growing. To many suppliers, the field of sustainable food will be relatively new. SFPI will provide a resource to assist them in navigating the field of claims such as “local” (which might or might not be mono-cropped), “all natural” (which might or might not be cage-raised), and “antibiotic-free” (which might or might not be factory-produced) so that their offerings will be suitable for their more knowledgeable customers.

IN SUMMARY: we seek to develop a systems causal mode to achieve long-term shifts in food values through a circular (…relationships-thinking-actions-results…) framework.

The desired end result is twofold:

• To have all major non-profits interested in food, the environment, and/or animal welfare to have an active and published food purchasing policy, and

• To have major institutional food suppliers, from national distributors to hotels to convention centers, offering a “sustainable menu” as an option for all their events.