From The Intersector Project’s “Research to Practice” series, this article looks closely at scholarly research and highlights key facts, actionable takeaways, and additional resources practitioners can turn to for related guidance.

Food policy councils (FPCs) are increasingly common in the United States. These collaborative governing bodies, found at the local, state, and regional level, bring together diverse food system stakeholders to develop policies or policy recommendations through a holistic, systems-wide approach, rather than through isolated, piecemeal strategies. Like collaborative councils in other issue areas, FPCs are often tasked with addressing a broad array of complex, interrelated issues, such as access to healthy foods, agricultural policies, obesity-related issues, and more. Recent research from Public Administration Review asks what, if anything, can practitioners do to design these councils so that they are more likely to generate the diverse policy outcomes that are demanded by complex food systems challenges.

This article is included in our list of TEN NOTABLE RESOURCES FOR CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION IN FOOD SECURITY.