The Central Ohio Local Food Working Group is a multi-county MORPC effort to promote the production, processing, distribution and consumption of food within the region. It will develop a regional local-food assessment and a regional local-food plan, to be completed in Spring 2010. The plan will seek to:

– Ensure that fresh, healthful, locally produced food is easily accessible to people of all income levels at local markets, grocery stores, restaurants, schools and other institutions.

– Create local jobs in the food production, processing and distribution fields.

– Preserve valuable farmland by making agriculture more profitable, and by showing planners and policymakers that farmland is important to local economies.

– Encourage policies that allow agriculture on vacant and underused land in cities and towns in the region.

– Coordinate regional local-food efforts with those of the statewide Food Policy Advisory Council established by Gov. Strickland in 2007.

The Central Ohio Local Food Working was formed in January 2008 as a loose-knit effort convened by the Ohio Field Office of American Farmland Trust. In June of that year, members voted to bring themselves under the umbrella of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, where the effort has resided ever since.

Membership on the working group includes farmers, farmland advocates, OSU Extension, local-government officials, food-related not-for-profit groups, public-health professionals, food retailers and others.

The regional local-food assessment, to be completed by the end of 2009, will include a listing, and the locations, of local-food oriented farms, farm stands, farmers markets, food processors, distributors, retailers, restaurants and institutions in the MORPC region. It also will include some surveys and interviews with farmers, consumers, processors and others to gauge their views about barriers to local-food production and availability.

The plan will be an outline of what the region, and individual jurisdictions within the region, can do to promote local food as a way to strengthen the local economy and improve the health of citizens. It may include recommendations on health, land-use and other policies. The plan will provide guidelines for serving the large Columbus-area market, but also for creating local-food networks within each of central Ohio’s counties.

After the plan is completed, the working group volunteers will continue to meet – to monitor the progress of the plan, serve as a resource for partners in the plan, do continued assessments and made adjustments to the plan as needed.

The working group last month established five task forces to help shape the assessment regional food plan:

RESEARCH TASK FORCE: To determine what data we need to compile to show the economic potential of local food to the 12-county region, and how to assemble those data; to determine what, if any, surveys we may want to conduct among consumers, farmers, retailers, etc., in the 12-county region; to determine what information is already available that is useful to our assessment.

HEALTH/ACCESS TASK FORCE: Gather information about areas that are underserved by grocery stores; work with health departments, food pantries and other entities in Franklin and surrounding counties, with a focus on healthy-food access.

AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS TASK FORCE: Gather a listing of food processors, distributors and other businesses in the 12-county region that have a focus on local food; combine with Local Matters online compilation of local-food producers.

LAND USE TASK FORCE: To seek policy options to promote preservation of farmland, educate local public officials on the need to plan for agriculture as economic development, to stress the role of local-food systems in these initiatives

PUBLIC AWARENESS TASK FORCE: Promote media coverage and public awareness of local foods, the economic importance of agriculture, the health benefits of fresh local food, and to educate people about how to find and prepare fresh foods

The working group is staffed by Brian Williams, MORPC consultant on farmland policy issues, and Jerry Tinianow, director of MORPC’s Center for Energy & Environment. Other members include: Amalie Lipstreu, Ohio Department of Agriculture; Barbara Packer, Lutheran Social Services; Ben Weiner, Franklin County Planning & Development; Carol Goland, OEFFA; Debbie Hamernick, Sysco; Ellen Walker, Jefferson Township; Jeff Sharp, OSU; Jennifer Williams, Morrow County Regional Planning; Lisa Schacht, Franklin County farmer; Elizabeth Lessner, restaurant interests; Michael Jones, Local Matters; Sandy Gill, Columbus Department of Health; Steven Vickner, Franklin University; Traci Aquara, Heart of Ohio RC&D;

The task forces are intended in part to bring more voices to the table.