K810Mt.bsky.social (@k810mt.bsky.social)

The Half-Billion-Dollar Question: Why NYC's Food Procurement System Still Shuts Out the Producers It Claims to Support New York City is the second-largest institutional food purchaser in the nation, behind only the U.S. Department of Defense. Every year, eleven City agencies spend over $500 million buying food for institutions including public schools, hospitals, senior centers, homeless shelters, and detention facilities, serving approximately 219 million meals and snacks. Where that half-billion dollars goes determines which farms survive, which communities build wealth, and whether the City’s food operation advances public health, environmental sustainability, and economic equity, or simply moves calories at the lowest possible cost. The City has tried to push its purchasing toward those goals. It has enacted local laws to increase New York State sourcing, issued executive orders on values-aligned procurement, enrolled in a national good food framework, and adopted some of the strictest nutrition standards of any major American city. Despite all of that, the vast majority of food contracts still flow to a handful of large national and regional distributors. Smaller producers, local farms, and minority- and women-owned businesses have been largely shut out. Understanding why starts with how the system works. How NYC Buys Half a Billion Dollars in Food Annually New York City’s food purchasing system involves multiple agencies, overlapping authorities, and a... https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/nyc-food-procurement-local-producers/