The Santa Fe Food Policy Council is devoted to creating and maintaining a regional food system that provides safe and nutritious food at reasonable prices to all residents, particularly those in need.

The Santa Fe Food Policy Council was established by a joint resolution from the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County. The resolution sets forth the following vision for the Santa Fe food system:

  • Affordable and nutritious food should be provided in a respectful manner and should be available to all people.
  • A wide variety of safe and nutritious food should be available to city and county residents.
  • Access to safe and nutritious food should not be limited by economic status, location, or other factors beyond a resident’s control.
  • The price of food in the city and county should remain reasonably close to the average price existing in the balance of the region.
  • The region should maintain the natural resources, land base, infrastructure and skill sets that are necessary to produce food.
  • All reasonable efforts should be taken to improve the incomes and decrease the needs of those who are most susceptible to food insecurity.
  • The availability of food to persons in need should be improved within the city and county to reduce poverty as a barrier to obtaining a healthy diet for all residents.

What is Food Policy?

According to Doing Food Policies Right: a Guide to Development and Action,

Broadly defined, food policy is a set of collective decisions made by governments at all levels, businesses, and organizations that affect how food gets from the farm to your table. A food policy can be as broad as a federal regulation on food labeling or as local and specific as a zoning law that lets city dwellers raise honeybees.”

Food experts and activists realized that a vast food system generated many policies, and for the most part, the average citizen didn’t have much of a role in shaping them. One way to address this lack of participation was by creating food policy councils, to bring together all stakeholders in a community food system and give them a say in constructing a system that reflected their values.

Today’s food policy councils come in different sizes and sometimes address different issues. But at heart they reflect the idea of food democracy—a term coined by Professor Tim Lang during the 1990s. To him, food democracy means “the long process of striving for improvements in food for all not the few.” Achieving that goal means bringing the bulk of society to work together to ensure there’s enough affordable, easily accessible, and nutritious food for everyone. That concept is sometimes called food security, and Lang also linked it to economic and social justice for the people who raise, process, distribute, and sell our food.

What is a Food Policy Council?

According to Food Policy Councils: Innovations in Democratic Governance for A Sustainable and Equitable Food System

The Food Policy Council (FPC) model is a policy and governance innovation that brings together diverse stakeholders to study a localized food system and offer recommendations for policy change. FPC members represent the full spectrum of food activities: they are typically farmers, gardeners, chefs and restaurateurs, food processors and wholesalers, grocers, consumers, anti-hunger and food security advocates and government representatives. Though they take many forms and serve different purposes, Food Policy Councils are united in their interest to transform the food system through collaborative policy making.

What is a Food System?

A Food System is comprised of these five sectors:

  • The Growing of Food
  • The Processing of Food
  • The Distribution of Food
  • The Consumption of Food
  • The Disposal of the Waste generated by the growing, processing, distribution and consumption food.