Food Action Plan Working Groups

The following identifies the six priority areas of the Food Action Plan and the primary goal of each. Each area has a working group which will report to the FPC.

1. Agriculture - Support and enhance agricultural programs and policies.
2. Economic Development - Support efforts to develop a diverse, equitable, and sustainable food economy and promote food systems as an economic engine.
3. Education - Raise general awareness about local and healthy foods, alongside the multi-cultural history of farming, by fostering education in the schools and offering learning opportunities and programs in the public and private sector and to elected representatives and public officials.
4. Environment and Climate Change - Advocate for policies and programs that ensure a healthy and sustainable relationship between food production, consumption and disposal; while aiming to improve efficiency and reduce consumption of natural resources.
5. Food Access - Advocate for policies and programs that help ensure equitable access to healthy, affordable food through increased food availability and accessibility.
6. Health - Advocate for policies and programs that help ensure healthy food is available, accessible, affordable, and acceptable for all communities.

Procurement Working Group

Focused on supporting the regional foodscape through the promotion of increased and continued use of locally produced food throughout Buffalo and Erie County in all settings ranging from the dinner tables of individual homes to the available food choices in institutional settings as well.

Healthy Food Retail Working Group

Brings together different partners who are working to increase access to healthy food in Buffalo and Erie County. Together, they engage in strategic planning and evaluation, identify policy change needs, and seek joint funding.

Urban Food Production Working Group

Tasked with representing the interests of individuals and groups who grow food in the City of Buffalo. As a result of the Green Code, the land uses of Market Garden and Community Garden have been created and legitimized in the city zoning code. However, the full implementation of the Green Code requires the development of a permit process for market and community gardens. The urban production working group gathered input from market and community gardeners and created a policy proposal to address existing regulatory obstacles to growing food that were not addressed by the Green Code. We are seeking to use the green code permit development process to achieve broader policy changes and compromises that will benefit growers and the city by eliminating obstacles and creating new partnerships with the city.

Membership Working Group

Oversees the process of recruitment, application, review, and approval of new members for policy council seats as they become available.