With an ambitious food plan ready for adoption, all that’s missing is the financing

City Council members heard a briefing Tuesday on a far-reaching food plan designed to eliminate historical barriers to food access in Austin and Travis County.

If all goes as planned, the draft proposal will return to City Council on Aug. 29 for possible adoption. The Travis County Commissioners Court is expected to be briefed on the plan Aug. 8.

The food plan grew out of a City Council resolution passed in June 2021 calling for the development of a five-year road map to ensuring all residents have access to nutritious, affordable food. Travis County formally joined the effort the following year. The Council action was in direct response to Austin and Travis County’s severe food insecurity issue that became even more apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic and two serious winter storms.

Edwin Marty, food policy manager of the city’s Office of Sustainability, and Rachel Coff, a planning manager with Travis County Health and Human Services, presented the food plan – the product of a community-driven process that gathered input from residents, community organizations and other city departments.

Based on that input, the drafters of the plan developed a set of priorities, which includes acquiring and preserving agricultural land to expand community food production, increasing the number of farms owned by socially disadvantaged farmers, improving the livelihoods of farm workers and food workers, creating more resilient and sustainable local supply chains, expanding the number of food retail sites in the Eastern Crescent and increasing the diversion of food waste from landfills, among other objectives.

“We perhaps have a pivotal moment right now to look at the land that still exists in our community that is farmed and preserve that land. … That land is being developed at an unprecedented rate,” Marty said. “We need a clear-cut strategy for preserving farmland.”

Agricultural land provides not just food, he said, “but an incredible amount of green infrastructure benefits (and) economic benefits.” He highlighted the fact that community members want to see a tie between agriculture and housing.

“There is an incredible opportunity to not have to choose between agriculture and housing, but instead (an opportunity) to marry the two together to create communities that are built around agriculture,” he said.

Marty pointed to Travis County’s rapidly diminishing agricultural land. Citing the 2022 agricultural census, the plan states there are 870 privately owned and operated farms in Travis County, spanning over 198,000 acres. That’s a 21 percent decrease in the number of farms and an 11 percent decrease in the acreage since 2017.

“While the Austin area has a robust and growing demand for local food, only about 0.06 percent of food consumed in Travis County is produced locally,” the draft plan states. Most food consumed in Austin is produced in other areas and transported here.

Food plans are relatively new to governmental entities, Marty said.

“Ten years ago, there were virtually no food plans at a municipal or county level,” he said. “Today, there are probably 10 or 12 food plans across the country, and we’re very excited to be on the leading edge of the creation of these visionary community-driven documents. So like many plans, a food plan is simply a vision of where the community wants us to go.”

Even with the city and county’s anticipated adoption of the food plan, implementing its objectives will prove more challenging because of the city’s increasing number of competing priorities and a current lack of available funding.

Council Member Alison Alter said she would like to see funding for the food plan added to the comprehensive climate bond package that Council is expected to approve at its Thursday meeting.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that City Council members were briefed on the food plan Thursday. Their meeting was held Tuesday, July 16.

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