Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said the State Legislature tasked a new policy group involving all state agriculture stakeholders to recommend a sustainable local food policy that can be applied to school lunch systems, government assistance programs and other public services.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Scott M. Simon of Abita Springs, established the Louisiana Sustainable Local Food Policy Council within the LDAF.
“The council will help identify opportunities to build a sustainable local food economy that we believe will help stimulate job creation, economic development, preserve open spaces and increase consumer access to fresh, locally grown food,” Strain said. “Our local agricultural economy is very important to the state and we want to explore possibilities that will allow more sustainable local food to be available for public assistance programs, the National School Lunch Program, the Schools Breakfast Program and other services.”
“Our goal for the council is to forge partnerships throughout our entire Louisiana food system and open doors for all facets of agriculture,” Simon said.
Strain noted that most of the recent economic development projects that have located in the state are agricultural based.
“ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston is opening a $210 million sweet potato processing plant near Delhi. The Zagis USA cotton spinning plant in Lacassine is using Louisiana cotton and is the first major cotton project in Louisiana in decades. Foster Farms took over the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry operation in Farmerville and will have a payroll of more than $24 million and we’ve just signed the contracts to build a new $30 million New Orleans Cold Storage facility to support our poultry industry,” Strain said. “We’re also developing plans to improve port facilities in Lake Charles for rice exportation and a rough rice loading facility at Lacassine to move rice by rail.”
A task force will gather data on Louisiana’s agricultural economy and report to the Louisiana Sustainable Local Food Policy Council, which will report to Commissioner Strain and the Legislature.
The council will end its work by January of 2012, according to the statute.
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