OUR VISION

Our Vision is to realize a food system in Ohio that is Sustainable, Healthful, Equitable, Resilient, and Accessible.

OUR NETWORK

Ohio Food Policy Network (OFPN) was founded by stakeholders who shared a vision for the future of Ohio’s food system. Over the course of 2016-18, hundreds of participants from across the state worked through a collective process to articulate our vision, agenda, and goals. Additionally, more than 150 participants at the 2016 Ohio Food Policy Summit, hosted by The Ohio State University, identified motivations for working within the food system and this information was distilled into eight statements, which serve as OFPN’s below-stated values.

OFPN continues to be a collaborative network of active local food councils and multiple state, regional, and local stakeholders throughout Ohio guided by a Steering Committee that facilitates collaboration within the network. OFPN serves as a social scaffolding to support the skill development, information sharing, and coalition building needed to grow and develop a food system that supports and serves all Ohioans.

OUR VALUES

At the core, OFPN seeks to communicate, connect, and collaborate. These activities build the capacity of members and of the network to collectively achieve greater progress toward our shared vision. Building on this core, we collectively engage in education and advocacy—the key strategies and activities that strengthen Ohio’s food system, including:

• Support for the growth and production of farms in all areas of the state
• Increase access to locally grown and healthy food for all Ohioans
• Develop aggregation, distribution, and processing networks to connect producers and utilizers within the system
• Increase institutional utilization and participation in the Ohio food system