State creates first strategic plan for food

LED BY RHODE ISLAND's first-ever director of food strategy, Sue AnderBois, the state has come up with a five-year strategic plan for the state's food production and consumption ecosystem. It was presented at the first food system summit, held at the University of Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
LED BY RHODE ISLAND's first-ever director of food strategy, Sue AnderBois, the state has come up with a five-year strategic plan for the state's food production and consumption ecosystem. It was presented at the first food system summit, held at the University of Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Food advocates and other industry stakeholders on Tuesday released a proposed five-year strategic plan focused on the state’s food system, designed to improve food-related production, health and access and economic development for Rhode Islanders.

The plan, dubbed “The Rhode Island Food Strategy,” was unveiled during the state’s first-ever food system summit held at the University of Rhode Island. The 17-page draft plan is the culmination of ongoing efforts from private and nonprofit stakeholders along with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, who earlier this year hired Sue AnderBois as the state’s first-ever director of food strategy. Among other things, AnderBois was tasked with heading the effort to come up with a food system plan for the state.

“Rhode Island is known for its delicious food, sprawling farms, abundant fisheries and exceptional restaurants,” Raimondo said in prepared remarks. “It is part of who we are, and it’s an area where we continue to lead and innovate. But work remains to close the gaps in our state’s food system and ensure all Rhode Islanders have access to healthy, local foods.”

The plan focuses on five areas: alleviating food insecurity and hunger; making food production more accessible; creating, sustaining and growing markets; prioritizing environmental and economic sustainability; and creating and sustaining the climate for food-related businesses.

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The state also launched a new website, relishrhody.com, which is under the umbrella of the R.I. Department of Environmental Management. The state estimates Rhode Islanders missed about 33 million meals in 2016 and about 12 percent are food insecure. At the same time, only about 1 percent of the food consumed in Rhode Island is produced here.

Indeed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates about 45 percent of all fruit and vegetable production in the United States comes from California. The second-largest producer, at about 9 percent, is Florida.

The state is trying to grow the local food system here to become more sustainably independent, and has joined the Food Solutions New England goal of having 50 percent of the food eaten in the six-state region be produced here by 2060.

To achieve such a goal, however, Rhode Island faces a myriad of challenges, including the need to re-purpose limited land, bolster an underused seafood industry and change long-ingrained consumer habits.

Food advocates see the new strategy as one way to work toward those goals.

“We envision a Rhode Island where the food system provides good jobs for people of all backgrounds, and where innovation and entrepreneurship are encouraged,” according to the plan. “Where established businesses mentor younger businesses. Where microenterprises have access to space and resources to expand and grow. Where food businesses think as a system, with processors and restaurants buying inputs from local farmers and fishermen; schools and institutions serving local seafood on their menus, farmer entrepreneurs growing crops that aren’t traditionally grown in New England for Rhode Islanders for various cultures. [The plan puts] us on the path to create this in Rhode Island.”

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