Why Local Food?
Promoting a healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system in the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County
By the Numbers:
- 2.3 million people live, work, and eat in Northeast Ohio
- $6.7 billion is spent annually on food
- Over 1,300 miles is the average distance food travels before it reaches our plates
The development of a holistic and diverse local food system fosters more direct connections between growers, businesses, organizations, and consumers in Northeast Ohio while addressing larger challenges in health and nutrition, economic development, environmental sustainability, and community vitality.
The primary goal of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Council is to cultivate a stronger and more sustainable local food system in order to bring the following benefits to residents of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and the broader Northeast Ohio region:
Food Access: Many inner-city neighborhoods can be considered "food deserts" where residents lack access to foods needed to support a healthy diet. Locally-based food systems can foster increased connections between local growers and urban residents, adding to the availability of healthy foods.
Health & Nutrition: A local food system can increase the quantity and availability of fresh fruits and vegetables and other less processed products. Access to these healthier foods can balance the tendencies in our society to eat highly processed "fast foods" that cause heart disease, diabetes, and other diet-related illnesses. Moreover, a holistic local food system may be leveraged to improve institutional nutrition standards e.g. schools, hospitals, employers, etc.
Community Development: : Creating a mix of businesses, farmers markets, Fresh Stop food centers, community and market gardens and other outlets for local food can improve health in neighborhoods while creating spaces for social mixing and commerce to enhance urban communities.
Economic Development: With more than $3 billion spent annually on food in Cuyahoga County, there are many entrepreneurial opportunities in food production, distribution, processing, and restaurant or food service operations.
Urban Agriculture and Gardening: The outmigration of populations from traditional urban cores creates new opportunities to utilize vacant land as green space to support community gardens, market gardens, or native plant preserves and increase the overall supply of healthy foods.
Environmental Sustainability: Since most food consumed is processed and distributed from outside of the state, increasing the use of local food can reduce reliance on fossil-based energy and related carbon emissions.
Urban-Rural Interface: : Local food systems foster deeper social and economic ties between urban and rural populations while building a stronger regional economy.