Episode 160: Chloë Waterman On Reforming Public Food Procurement

The Checkout speaks with Chloë Waterman of Friends of the Earth and The Federal Good Food Purchasing Coalition about how integrating Good Food Purchasing Standards into federal food procurement can change the food system.

New Report: https://www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org/resources/impact-analysis-fact-sheet

Organization: https://www.fedgoodfoodpurchasing.org/home

The Federal Good Food Purchasing Coalition is working to spur a more just, healthy, resilient, and sustainable food system through values-aligned food purchasing and food service at the federal level.

Values-aligned food service means that the government can be a leader in prioritizing these core values in its food purchasing and food service operations.

As the largest food purchaser in the world, the federal government has the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that its food purchasing advances, rather than undermines, the public good.

In the same way that federal energy procurement has accelerated the transition to clean energy across the US economy, food procurement can be a driver for the just, healthy, and sustainable food system we need.  

https://foe.org/team-members/chloe-waterman/ Chloë Waterman currently serves as the senior program manager for Friends of the Earth’s Climate-Friendly Food Program where she leads Friends of the Earth’s policy and markets campaigns to advance a healthy and climate-friendly food system. She works to achieve a just transition away from factory farmed animal production toward regenerative plant-based food production and a sustainable amount of higher-welfare, pasture-based animal agriculture. On Capitol Hill, in statehouses, and across city governments, she has pioneered climate-friendly food procurement policies, initiatives to expand plant-based school meal offerings, and other policies to build a just and sustainable food system. Chloë previously served as the senior manager of state legislative strategy for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) where she successfully lobbied for a wide range of animal protection legislation and was instrumental in defeating pro-factory farming measures. Chloëholds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Philosophy from Lewis & Clark College and a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Maryland. Her work has been featured in Bloomberg, Reuters, the Washington Post, Vox, Politico, HuffPost, Civil Eats, Food Tank, the Baltimore Sun, The News & Observer, The Times Union, Next City, Maryland Matters, and on C-SPAN.

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