The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law School will receive $261,965 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to fund a project to inform national food policy reform, CAFS announced today. The goal of the project, titled "Blueprint for Integrated National Food Policy," is to create a more healthful, environmentally sustainable and equitable food system that better serves children and other vulnerable populations in the United States.

CAFS will partner with Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) to complete research and product development during the project’s 18-month grant period.

"The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School is the national leader in food, agriculture and environmental law education and advocacy," said Professor Laurie Ristino, director of CAFS. "Harvard Law School has pioneered food law and policy education and advocacy. Together, we bring powerful expertise and experience to address food system problems. We thank the Kellogg Foundation for this generous grant, which will enable our faculty and student clinicians to develop a first-ever legal framework to foster healthier food systems in the U.S. We anticipate that our blueprint will be used to catalyze food system change."  

Specifically, CAFS and FLPC will identify food and agriculture stakeholders’ policy concerns and issues critical to human and environmental health. Next, they will develop a blueprint of integrated law and policy changes designed to foster more favorable health outcomes for American citizens, particularly in vulnerable populations, as well as improved environmental outcomes. The project’s law and policy tools will be available to the public to support robust dialog and food systems policy innovation.

"We are excited to begin this important project with the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems," said Emily M. Broad Leib, director of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic. "Creating this blueprint will allow us to spearhead what we hope will be a productive conversation about the federal policy changes essential to align our food and agricultural system with the important goals of health, sustainability, and equity. This project will create avenues for dialogue that engage a broad swath of stakeholders and, via online opportunities for engagement, allow for open source policy innovation. We are delighted that the Kellogg Foundation has offered its support of this important work."

The Vermont Law School project team will be led by Laurie Beyranevand ’03, associate director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems.

"Last November, The Washington Post published an op-ed titled ‘How a National Food Policy Could Save Millions,’ calling for the Obama administration to issue an executive order to create an equitable, healthier, environmentally sustainable food system," Beyranevand said. "We aim to take the general proposal introduced in the op-ed and develop a detailed, thoughtful and comprehensive blueprint to inform policy reform proposals of food system stakeholders. We are very appreciative of the Kellogg Foundation support. This project is visionary, and we think has the potential to catalyze food system change in a way that takes into account health, environment, social justice, and animal welfare."

Team members said the success of the Blueprint for Integrated National Food Policy will be based largely on having a broad range of stakeholder involvement to ensure socioeconomic, racial, gender and geographic diversity.

For more information about the Blueprint for Integrated National Food Policy, email Laurie Beyranevand at lbeyranevand@vermontlaw.edu or call (802) 831-1030.

The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School is the most comprehensive agriculture, food and environmental law program in the nation, emphasizing systems-based problem-solving and entrepreneurial innovation. CAFS supports scholars and practitioners by producing practical, robust scholarship for use by the food and agriculture community. For more information about the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/cafs.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School was established in 2010 to address growing concerns about the environmental, health, and economic consequences of the laws and policies that structure the food system. FLPC attorneys provide action-learning opportunities to Harvard Law students, who conduct legal and policy research focused on increasing access to healthy foods, preventing diet-related diseases, and assisting small-scale and sustainable farmers in breaking into new commercial markets. For more information about FLPC, visit www.chlpi.org/food-law-and-policy/about.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.   

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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation’s largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master’s Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, and Food and Agriculture Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.