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SF Mayor Newsom Announces First Regional Food Policy in US
July 10, 2009

On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced his Executive Directive on Healthy Sustainable Food for San Francisco. The Directive is a truly holistic document, knitting the many elements required to create a functional foodshed that serves rich and poor. Other cities have already embraced some of the items in Newsom’s directive, but what is most groundbreaking is that he calls out the need to prioritize healthy food access and the interdependence of rural and urban communities in a period of economic crisis. He sees the link between sustainability and the nation’s next economic stage.

Click read more to continue reading and for links to the Executive Order, photos, and press coverage.

He orders that City departments dedicated to nutrition programs remain sufficiently staffed in the context of budget cuts and directs the City to advocate for federal and state policies that will bring about a sustainable food system. Specifically he cites policies that conserve the region’s prime agricultural land and regional agriculture. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he calls for good food memes to be implanted within the City code and general plan in order to ensure that development of sustainable foodshed and good food access will continue after his administration.

Newson's Directive on Healthy Sustainable Food grew out of the San Francisco Urban-Rural Roundtable, a project sponsored by Roots of Change. The Urban-Rural Roundtable brought together 50 leaders from city and country to prototype urban and rural collaboration in the development of a "foodshed" for the City.

Click here to read more about the Urban-Rural Roundtable
Click here for coverage of the Mayor's announcement and other events at the Direct Farm Marketing Summit.
Check out photos on our Facebook page! 
 
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