Shaping the laws and policies that govern our food system.

The Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) is at the forefront of policy efforts to reduce food waste and promote the recovery of safe food in the United States and around the world. Through local, state, national, and global partnerships with governments and other policymakers, FLPC leverages its expertise to identify and analyze the major legal and policy drivers of food loss and waste and barriers to greater recovery. FLPC provides guidance and targeted recommendations for improving proposed and existing laws and policies, particularly those related to date label policies, organic waste bans, tax incentives for recovery and donation, and liability protections for food donors. FLPC further advises policymakers, advances strategic dialogues, and convenes and educates stakeholders on how to pursue immediate and long-term policy change.

FLPC works to empower state, local, and tribal communities to identify challenges in their food system, understand the legal and policy changes that could address the root causes of those problems, and implement such changes through policy advocacy. FLPC has helped launch new and support existing food policy councils, both domestically and internationally, as well as support local policy initiatives, such as adoption and implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program standards. FLPC also publishes comprehensive local and state food policy toolkits and conducts numerous food policy trainings based on these toolkits to varied audiences of producers, retail vendors, educators, advocates, and consumers.

FLPC advances legal and policy levers that increase people’s physical and economic access to safe and nutritious foods. Understanding the key role that nutrition plays in shaping health outcomes, FLPC advocates for policies that promote affordability of healthy foods and decrease availability of foods associated with diet-related diseases. FLPC further explores innovative policy avenues, including those that improve food and nutrition training for doctors and other health professionals and integrate nutrition services into health care and food systems. FLPC offers capacity building and coalition support for communities seeking additional information on relevant legal and policy tools, empowering these stakeholders to design and implement inclusive advocacy platforms.

FLPC works to advance equity and sustainability—environmental, social, and economic—across the agricultural and food production industries. We engage in research and advocacy on federal agricultural policy to help agricultural producers better mitigate and adapt to climate change; we work with partner organizations to help small and mid-scale food producers and food entrepreneurs decipher relevant laws and regulations so they may break into local and regional markets; we work with national and local partners to advocate for better wages and working conditions for food system workers; and we raise awareness of the inequities deeply embedded in our food systems, including the long history of discrimination against and disparate treatment of Black, Native American, and other farmers of color by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other governmental and food system actors.