Every city has a food economy and most have at least the beginnings of a local food value chain. This means that every city has an opportunity to increase local economic activity, create jobs, and promote healthy, local food by helping local businesses to capture more of this market. Cities should include local food as part of their economic development efforts, and this paper will help them do that. Nationally, the trend is toward local food – cities should take advantage of this. This report, written by the Mayors Innovation Project (a COWS initiative), is a complement to the previous report, Promoting Access to Healthy, Local Food.

Authors: Ceri Jenkins, Adam Schepker, and Satya Rhodes-Conway