Mark Winne CFSC Food Policy Council Program Director

Preliminary to the 13th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference was a gathering of the Food Policy Council “From People Power to Public Policy: A Gathering fo Local and State Food Policy Councils.”

We’d been asked at the end of the day to reflect on our “aha” moments. What did we learn? What was significant?

During the morning session, Wayne Roberts, PhD, Toronto Food Policy Council, author, “The No-nonsense Guide to World Food” (click here for a preview), spoke of work at the University of Toronto. There, they have increased local buying of food to 25%. Roberts related that while there has been a 10% increase in food costs in buying locally, there has been a corresponding 10% savings in waste management.

There are ways to offset costs in buying locally from your farmer. Aha. Get your produce from the Neighborhood Nutrition Center, and realize a 10% savings on your next purchase by returning the produce scraps for compost. NNCenters can then create a sale-able compost product to help cover a part of the operational costs.

Aha.