ASHEVILLE—The first general council session of the Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council met Monday, but ideas for how this group should tackle food insecurity have germinated for nearly a year.
And, now, its work takes on increased significance, as research released this week showed that more people in the Asheville area are struggling to get enough nutritious, affordable food.
The 18 representatives from the Food Policy Council’s nine working groups discussed a range of proposals, including a measure supporting the statewide 10% Campaign at Tuesday’s Asheville City Council meeting. The campaign, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, advocates that governments spend 10 percent of food budget dollars locally. Council unanimously approved the effort on Tuesday.
It’s just the latest activity for the all-volunteer Food Policy Council, which started forming last year after the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center released a national study then ranking the Asheville area the seventh-worst metropolitan statistical area in the nation for food insecurity….
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