What is a Local Food Council ?

Local food councils can come from public policy, civil society networks or various alliances. They go by various names: food policy councils (particularly in North America), food and nutrition security councils in Brazil, local food councils etc. Their objectives and functions vary according to the context and, above all, their degree of institutionalisation: food planning, coordination, lobbying, technical expertise and experimentation. These bodies are multi-stakeholder networks that support agro-ecological transitions at the level of urban and rural food systems.

ATTER is conducting a literature review on the diversity of local food councils and analyses the functioning and role of two local food councils included in the network’s case studies: Southern Ardèche (France) and Madison (USA). Based on these cases and the experience of several ATTER participants directly involved in these councils or others, colleagues from Inrae and FIAN have together developed a joint policy brief on local food councils. It presents these two cases and proposes a number of recommendations for developing the potential role of these arenas for debate in operationalising of food justice, food democracy and the right to food, as well as a truly agro-ecological transition.