GLOCULL Pilot Project Series: Proposed Policies and How to Get Involved
If you’ve been following the GLOCULL Pilot Project Series, you are familiar with the innovative stories of farmland, sustainable business, and indigenous foods projects, but you might be wondering what’s next for GLOCULL partners at ASU’s School of Sustainability and School for the Future of Innovation in Society, City of Phoenix, and City of Tempe. We turned our focus toward what policy work needs to be done and where small businesses, food producers, and advocates can focus their efforts in 2021.
Policy Guidance for Local Food Businesses
Whether you are a small food business that tables at the local farmers market, a food truck dishing up tasty plates at community events, or a community garden growing fresh food for the neighborhood there are complicated local and county regulations you need to follow. Passionate food entrepreneurs can get easily tangled up and deterred by this onslaught of paperwork and unintuitive government processes.
To support food entrepreneurs and groups in better navigating these obstacles and as part of the City of Phoenix’s 2025 Food Action Plan, GLOCULL partners have been working to collect information from regulating bodies to create guides to the relevant city, county, and state policies. In consultation with food businesses, the guides will become part of a library of resources that local food businesses and start-ups can access as they work toward building their capacity and ensuring compliance with government partners.
If you are interested in these policy guides or would like to get involved in the project please contact us. If you are located within the City of Phoenix, contact the Office of Environmental Programs directly.
Image Source: Strive Vineyards
A New Sustainable Food Economy Accelerator
Taking part in the GLOCULL partnership has been an exciting opportunity to move the needle forward in several areas within Arizona’s food economy. However, the work is far from over. Continuing to harvest best practices from around the world for building a sustainable food economy in our state, the GLOCULL partnership pilot projects will serve as the foundation for a new Sustainable Food Economy Accelerator.
Leveraging our collective networks of practitioners, researchers, and advocates, the Accelerator will assist businesses across Arizona’s food economy with a focus on improving collaboration, matchmaking, and networking.
As a support organization already providing invaluable technical assistance to all kinds of locally-owned businesses across the state, we couldn’t be more excited to carry on in this mission!