OUR WORK
The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a metric-based, flexible framework that encourages large institutions to direct their buying power toward five core values — local and community-based economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and community health and nutrition — and the principles of equity, accountability, and transparency. The Good Food Purchasing Program is the first procurement model to support these food system values in equal measure.
Why Procurement
Changing the food system means creating a system based on values. It means understanding relationships between distributors, vendors, and their suppliers and increasing transparency along the entire supply chain.
Every year, public institutions across the United States—from school districts to city governments—spend billions of dollars on food purchases. They have the opportunity to lead the movement for food system change and express their community’s values while influencing supply chains.
The Good Food Purchasing Program
The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a metric based, flexible framework that encourages large institutions to commit to equity, accountability, and transparency in their food purchasing and direct their buying power toward five core values: local and community-based economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and community health and nutrition. As the first and only values-based food purchasing program to give equal consideration to each food system value, the Good Food Purchasing Program offers a unifying vision and framework for food system transformation through food purchasing.
How It Works
Through the Program, the Center works with institutions to establish supply chain transparency from farm to fork, evaluate how current purchasing practices align with the Good Food Purchasing Standards, assist with goal setting and increasing purchases of Good Food, measure progress, and celebrate successes.
Verification & Scoring:
Analysis and reporting are based off of a rating system described in the Good Food Purchasing Standards. Key features:
Institutional Commitment
By adopting the Good Food Purchasing Program, institutions commit to:
MEET TARGETS
Meet Equity, Accountability, and Transparency targets and targets in each of the Good Food values, as outlined in the Good Food Purchasing Standards.
REPORTING
Incorporate the Good Food Purchasing Standards and reporting requirements into new bids and contracts.
VERIFICATION
Participate in the Good Food Purchasing Program to verify compliance and celebrate success.
TRANSPARENCY
Establish supply chain transparency to the farm of origin that enables the commitment to be verified and tracked over time.
The Center issues a Good Food Leader seal to participating institutions that meet Program targets.
Implementation Process
Once an institution adopts the Good Food Purchasing Policy, it works with the Center for Good Food Purchasing and local lead partner organization to implement the Good Food Purchasing Program. Implementation includes:
ASSESSING BASELINE
SETTING GOALS AND DEVELOPING AN ACTION PLAN
TRACKING PROGRESS
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
The Center provides resources and support for institutions and partners throughout this cycle. See the Resources page for more.
POLICY
The Center for Good Food Purchasing supports the process of creating, implementing, and shaping public policy to promote the successful integration of Good Food Purchasing values, principles, and standards and to bolster resources for values-aligned purchasing on the local, state, and federal level. The Center is on the forefront of steering policy efforts to strengthen institutions’ financial capacity for values-aligned purchasing through incentives and ensuring the alignment of local- and state-level policies with values-aligned procurement processes.
As one of the founding organizations in the Federal Good Food Purchasing Coalition, the Center engages in federal efforts to strengthen values-aligned procurement including defining strategic purchasing goals with Federal institutions, promoting the implementation of data and transparency from Department of Defense, and exploring opportunities for the USDA to support institutional purchasing values through commodity purchasing and programs such as Local Food for Schools.
STANDARDS
The Good Food Purchasing Standards v3.0 are a scoring methodology and rating system by which the Center for Good Food Purchasing analyzes how institutional food purchasing aligns with values of the Good Food Purchasing Program. The Standards provide a framework to guide institutions, policymakers, and community-based organizations and grassroots coalitions in using public food dollars to support community values and reimagine a food system based on racial equity, transparency, and accountability.
Qualifying criteria, including third party certifications, referenced in the Good Food Purchasing Standards are carefully considered by a panel of issue area experts and reviewers. To be included, certifications are ranked according to rigor, auditing process, and alignment with the Program’s vision for change.
The Good Food Purchasing Standards undergo a regular review and update process that includes extensive stakeholder outreach and input.