Building a Sustainable Future in Food Systems

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many lost their jobs—and some of the hardest hit were commercial fishermen. 

As restaurants closed down, the market for seafood virtually disappeared overnight. With people out of work, unable to afford expensive seafood, and fishermen without customers, a link was broken in the food system. That’s where RI Food Policy Council stepped in. 

The pandemic exacerbated food insecurity, and many could not afford or easily access seafood. RI Food Policy Council identified a refugee population in Providence, namely the Liberian and Hmong communities, that are used to fresh, easily accessible, and cheap seafood in their home countries. 

The organization then provided a $600 grant to the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island for 600 lbs of whole fish to be delivered directly from fishermen to these families in need. The Commercial Fisheries Center then developed the program further, and has since distributed around 250,000 lbs of fresh local seafood, over 165,000 meals.

This is just one example of the work done by RI Food Policy Council, an organization focused on sustainability in the state’s food system. According to their mission statement, RI Food Policy Council aims to build “a more equitable, accessible, economically vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system in Rhode Island”. 

The work of the Council specializes in food access, local business, climate change, and education. The organization was founded in 2011, and obtained 501(c)3 status in 2021.

According to Nessa Richman, Network Director at RI Food Policy Council, “a food system is made up of all of the different pieces that you need in order to…make sure that people are fed”. This starts with harvesting (both on land and in the sea), then moves to production, distribution, consumption, and finally food waste. The food waste, if properly managed, can contribute to the production of food, creating an entire food system cycle. 

RI Food Policy Council operates under a volunteer council. As Network Director, it is Nessa Richman’s job to bring these members together to make decisions advocating for a more sustainable food system.

As awareness of the impacts food systems can have on the environment has grown, consumers have started to value locally and sustainably sourced food. But what counts as local or sustainable?

According to Richman, the RI Food Policy Council doesn’t have a clear-cut definition of “local” food. “We believe in allowing people to define local for themselves,” she said. “I think that…it’s actually really important for Rhode Island and for all the New England states to start to think more about our regional definition of local than just an in-state definition.”

Although RI Food Policy Council doesn’t necessarily work with farmers from outside of Rhode Island directly, the Council is part of the regional project New England Feeding New England, which was started in 2020.

“If our goal is to have greater food security, we know we can’t do that as individual states, and we…probably can't do it as a region…to 100%, but we can certainly do a better job of it if we’re thinking more as a region than if we’re not.”

RI Food Policy Council is a “backbone” organization for stakeholders in the Rhode Island food system. New England Feeding New England creates a coalition by bringing together similar organizations from the six New England states. 

Rhode Island’s location in the country, as well as its relatively high population density, complicates the accessibility of local food. According to Richman, this makes access to local food easier and harder at the same time. “When an area is densely populated, you have less opportunity for active farmland so you can grow less, but it does make it possible to have…points of distribution that can serve a larger number of people,” she said. 

In addition, although local food may seem to be better than non-local food, it is not necessarily more sustainable, accessible, or healthier. “You can have an area that’s very…rich in farmers markets and rich in…food production in general, but if that food is all priced out of people’s range, or if they have transportation challenges and can’t get to a full service supermarket, because all that’s in your neighborhood is fast food joints, then, you know, it doesn’t really matter,” Richman said. 

Local food is often seen as inherently better for the environment and for the communities in which it is produced — but local food does not necessarily mean accessible, as Dawn King, Professor at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, points out. 

Food access is about whether individuals have enough to eat. Local and urban agriculture can be more expensive, making it more difficult for low income individuals to purchase it. 

Professor King is considered an expert in local food systems, and has worked with many local organizations over the past decade, including RI Food Policy Council. She was previously chair of RI Food Policy Council, and is currently a co-chair of its Food and Climate Group. King also chairs the board of Red Tomato, an organization based in Rhode Island that works as a middleman between regional farms and wholesale distribution channels. 

So how does RI Food Policy Council ensure that locally produced food is more sustainable and accessible?

The organization works across three different methods: partnerships, programs, and policy. Members of RI Food Policy Council form partnerships between various stakeholders in the RI food system, creating coalitions and working groups. 

Sometimes, a need or gap is identified, and the Council starts a program or pilot to help solve this problem. An example of this was the project to transfer fresh fish from fishermen directly to consumers in immigrant and indigenous communities in Providence.

When members identify a problem that can’t be solved through a project, that’s when the work moves towards policy. They then form a workgroup focused on advocating for a certain policy. The four workgroups currently hosted by RI Food Policy Council include Climate/Environment, Food Business/Economic Development, Food Access/Public Health, and Wasted Food Solutions.

RI Food Policy Council also displays a bill tracker on its website, which lists bills introduced into the Rhode Island state legislature that are related to the local food system or environmental justice in general. These bills may range from requiring that all public school lunches in elementary and secondary schools be free, to exempting urban and small farmers from various taxes. 

Large institutions can have a significant impact on the local food system. On Brown’s own efforts to purchase food locally from the community, King says that there is room for growth. “My guess is they could certainly…be doing more. But sometimes I mean, it’s really just not as easy as that. Brown being a large institution means they need a lot of stuff.” 

That’s where Farm Fresh RI comes in.

“Oftentimes in business…you try to eliminate middlemen. But in local food, these middlemen are really important. So what they do is they aggregate from small farmers.”

Part of the difficulty for a large organization like Brown to purchase more local produce is the fact that many farms are small-scale and unable to provide the quantity needed for the dining halls, which serve the student body. 

This makes it difficult to obtain exclusively through local networks. An organization like Farm Fresh RI can serve as a middleman between local producers and large institutions and other buyers in order to satisfy the demand for local food. 

Market Mobile, a program at Farm Fresh RI, aims to solve this problem by providing a platform where customers can order local produce conveniently. Amber Jackson, director of Market Mobile, is in charge of the distribution of local produce from across New England to customers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Market Mobile started as “a way to acknowledge that there are local foods that we can have, and really find a way to connect the farmers to the eaters and support the farmers,” Jackson said. 

Market Mobile serves both Brown’s dining halls and Brown Market Shares, a student-run program which distributes local produce to the Brown community.

According to Jackson, “there really aren’t many cons” to serving a large institution like Brown. “It’s just mostly like finding out…what they need and the commitment.” The main difficulty can be pricing. 

“Rhode Island itself has the most expensive farmland in the country. So buying local here is a true commitment,” Jackson said. 

According to Brown’s sustainability website, 29% of purchased produce is from within 150 miles, and 100% of fluid dairy is considered local. Brown defines local farms and production as located within 150 miles or less and owner-operated, with an annual profit no more than $5 million, among other criteria.

Market Mobile doesn’t just serve Brown—other institutions that utilize Market Mobile include Roger Williams, Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island College, Boston University, and UMass Dartmouth. 

Another difficulty in sourcing local food is whether or not it is in season. Jackson pointed out that tomatoes are only grown in certain times of the year—but people eat them year-round. In the winter, it can be especially difficult for an institution like Brown to source all of their produce locally when supplies are so restricted.