Regional Food Networks

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has received federal funding through the Minnesota Climate-Smart Food Systems Initiative. Led by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), MDH is collaborating on the Food Sovereignty and Vibrant Local Food Economies initiative, which will establish regional food networks statewide to improve food security, expand local food economies, strengthen food sovereignty, reduce waste and inefficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in local food systems.

MDH has granted funds to six local public health Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) agencies to provide Regional Food Coordination statewide. The Regional Food Coordinators are convening Regional Food Networks (RFN) to strengthen existing partnerships, build new partnerships, build capacity, provide technical assistance, and collaborate with local food systems partners and community members to identify the most impactful opportunities in local and regional food systems to achieve the goals of the grant and apply for funding to implement these projects.

These RFNs are being convened in the Northwest, Northeast, West Central, Southeast, Southwest, and Metro regions for statewide impact.

The strengths of these networks come from bringing together many voices — farmers, food aggregators, distributors, processors, food retailers, hunger relief organizations, health professionals, academic institutions, tribal and community leaders, advocates, and residents with lived experience.

If you are interested in getting involved, please fill out the Regional Food Network Interest Form and we will get you connected to your Regional Food Coordinator! Please note that you will not get an automatic reply upon submitting the form. You will receive a follow up email within five business days.

To receive updates on climate-smart food system opportunities, enter your information in the “stay connected” box and hit “subscribe” on MPCA’s Minnesota climate-smart food systems webpage.