Revisiting Santa Fe's Food Policy

The Santa Fe Food Policy Council, a thirteen-member advisory group that includes city and county officials and other citizens working on local food issues, hosted one of its occasional public forums on October 12, 2017, at the Santa Fe Convention Center.

The council heard presentations from at least a dozen speakers about food policy in our state capital as it relates to the multi-year food plan.

According to the news site Edible (Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos), three ongoing needs came to the forefront during the presentations: to expand the local market for local growers to sell their produce locally; to expand access to locally grown food to people of all incomes; and to educate a broad public about growing, buying, and cooking natural, nutritious produce. Read full article by Pamela Walker, who interviewed Kierstan Pickens, executive director of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, about how the Double Up Food Bucks program helps low-income families buy more fruits and  vegetables at growers markets.

Mayor Javier Gonzales, who has made a priority of addressing hunger in Santa Fe, also offered some remarks.“Santa Fe is a city of great means. Yet thirty percent of our kids will go hungry tonight. Twenty-eight percent of them have two working parents," said Gonzales. "Sixty percent of them are obese. We must challenge ourselves to solve the issues of hunger in our community."