Marin Food Policy Council

Purpose

The Marin Food Policy Council (MFPC) was founded to address issues connected to food production, access, distribution, and nutritional health, affecting the county’s 248,794 residents. The Council serves a unique purpose that is not duplicated by any other body in Marin, bringing together the local food system stakeholders in a roundtable format that allows for information exchange, resource identification, and prioritization of needs. It examines the health, sustainability, and quality of life of Marin residents through the lens of community food security, and develops targeted policies and practical solutions based on a systems approach to solving food access issues. The Council works to provide a cooperative framework for action that addresses food policy issues and assists residents in increasing understanding of their food system. Food policy development is a systemic approach to the cultivation of a sustainable and equitable food system. It fosters policies that shorten the distance from farm to table while benefiting the land, economy, and well-being of all residents.

Food Policy Spotlights

• Marin County Board of Supervisors Resolution on Hunger, September 2022
• Marin Voice: Fight hunger by changing our food systems, September 2022
• Hear from UCCE Marin Community and School Garden Coordinator, Lauren Klein, interviewed on KWMR West Marin Radio about thriving community and school gardens across Marin [Click on “ARCHIVES”, scroll and click on show name as “Enthusiasms/Specials”, and put the date in as 2021-1-21. The interview was done at 12 noon.] 
• CDFA Farmer Equity Report outlines key challenges facing socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in California and a set of recommendations for CDFA to address these challenges
• Young Farmers Racial Equity Toolkit is meant to build foundations for broader organizing and more concrete action toward dismantling racism and reckoning with histories of racialized dispossession and violence among the National Young Farmers Coalition and other farm and food systems groups
• Edible Marin and Wine Country - The Issue of Hunger, Summer 2019
• How CalFresh Benefits Marin County
• UC ANR Research to Action News Brief “SNAP Is Under Attack: Our Largest Food Assistance Program Needs Your Support”, December, 2019
• 2018 Marin County Crop Report
• Hunger in Marin persists despite efforts of government, nonprofits, Marin IJ, September 2016
• Marin schools emphasize healthy, more local foods in cafeterias, Marin IJ, August 2016
• Marin failing to capture millions in available federal food aid, Marin IJ, July 2016
• Local Food Hero: Farmer Janet Brown Brings Food Policy to the Table: hear from Janet Brown on how the community can come together to transform the local food system for the better, July 2016
• In moneyed Marin County, demand grows for food bank’s services: SF Chronicle, February 2016
• Equitable Access to Healthy and Local Food in Marin County: a Preliminary Report on Policy Priorities to the Board of Supervisors, October 2015
• Marin Food Policy Council's Food Day Resolution to the Board of Supervisors, October 2015
• Marin Voice: Too many lack easy access to healthy food By Rebecca Smith, Julia Van Solen Kim, Johnathan Logan, Steve Schwartz, Brigitte Moran and Marv Zauderer, April 2015

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Marin Food Policy Council meetings
Third Tuesdays of each month from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Email Bonnie Nielsen at banielsen@ucanr.edu for details to join virtual meetings.

Supported by  

Marin Community Foundation