Boston Receives $140,000 for Food System Resiliency Study

Boston Receives $140,000 for Food System Resiliency Study

To Understand Food Sustainability in the Event of a Natural Disturbance 

BOSTON—Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the City of Boston’s Office of Food Initiatives joined community partners Next Street and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) to announce the receipt of $140,000 in support of a food system resilience study. The study will focus on the resilience and preparedness of Greater Boston’s food system, continuing work completed by NextStreet and ICIC over the last six years, and aimed at understanding the points of production, processing, and distribution in Greater Boston. The funding is provided by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation and the Local Sustainability Matching Fund, a project of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

“Ensuring food access for all Bostonians is a critical component of the work this administration is doing,” said Mayor Walsh. “Confidence in our food system is important in sustaining a healthy and vibrant city. This study will inform the Office of Food Initiatives, the Office of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, and the Office of Emergency Management as we consider Greater Boston’s food system holistically, and identify existing and potential gaps in access within the City.”

The study seeks to understand the many ways food reaches the plates of Bostonians. The study will also compare similar cities that have experienced natural disturbances, and suggest policy changes that will help prepare the City of Boston should similar situations occur.

“This project is about better understanding Boston’s local and regional food system. Where do Bostonians grow, manufacture, and access food? How might those access points be impacted by a natural disturbance and how do we make sure that the food system we’re developing is robust enough that it is able to withstand such disturbances?” said Director of Food Initiatives, Edith Murnane. “This work is going to enable us to think about the policy and programming that we need to put in place to create a more robust and resilient food system – one that will not only better ensure that Bostonians are able to put food on their table, but will help us to do so despite expected natural disruptions.”

The project is slated to begin by the middle of May. Over the course of a year, NextStreet and the ICIC will visit cities of similar size with analogous food distribution planning, and interview food system stakeholders to gain a better understanding of how natural disturbances have impacted their food production, processing, and distribution.

“I am thrilled that the City of Boston is investigating this important issue. As New England’s largest city, the food system developing in and around the city has rippling implications, region-wide, on food and farm production,” said Andrew Kendall, Executive Director of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation.