Title
2030 Phoenix Food Action Plan - Citywide
Description
This report describes the 2030 Phoenix Food Action Plan and requests approval to adopt the plan. This community-based plan guides efforts over the next five years toward achieving the Council-approved 2050 local food system goal of healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant food for all. This plan reflects a shared vision: an equitable, sustainable, and thriving local food system. Collaboration and collective action, connecting communities, sharing abundance, and celebrating health are at the heart of this plan.
THIS ITEM IS FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION.
Report
Summary
Phoenix continues to prioritize building a healthy local food system by increasing access to healthy food, supporting urban agriculture, creating economic opportunities and reducing food waste. Over the past decade, the City of Phoenix has made several commitments and investments to support the local food system, beginning with: healthy local food system goals in the 2015 PlanPHX (also in the 2025 PlanPHX); the 2025 Phoenix Food Action Plan; an allocation of $14 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the American Rescue Plan Act for food system programs; the inclusion of food systems goals in the 2021 Climate Action Plan; and the establishment of a general funded Food Systems Program within the Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) in 2021.
Food is an essential component of a healthy, thriving community and plays a critical role in shaping health outcomes, the local economy, environmental sustainability, and cultural identity. The term “food system” encompasses all the processes, people, and resources involved in growing, processing, packaging, distributing, consuming, and disposing of food and food-related items. The City of Phoenix considers its local food system to include the geographic area of Maricopa County.
Status of the Local Food System
While Phoenix made significant investments toward improving the local food system in the past five years, including the completion of ninety percent (90 percent) of the actions identified in the 2025 Food Action Plan, the pandemic and recent federal administrative changes that reduced support to residents, farmers, and businesses have negatively affected our food system. Food insecurity persists in our community. Phoenix contains 43 of the 55 food deserts located in Maricopa County. Food deserts are defined as areas where the population has limited or no access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.
Local food production is a key component in a resilient local food system. Maricopa County is a national leader in food production. Drought and extreme heat have created challenges for local food production; local food production is also being impacted by the continual loss of farmland, with 36 percent of the Maricopa County’s farmland converted to urban development between 1997 and 2017. Local farmers and producers are adapting with more innovative, water efficient production methods such as controlled environment agriculture, container farming, and agrivoltaics.
Plan Vision and Guiding Values
The community envisions an equitable, sustainable, and thriving local food system where everyone has enough to eat and has access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food. The plan’s guiding values are Equity and Justice, Health and Joy, Community Connection and Sharing Abundance, Partnerships and Collective Action, and Sustainability and Resilience. This vision and these guiding values are embedded throughout the plan and will guide the implementation of the proposed actions.
Plan Structure
The 2030 Food Action Plan (2030 Plan) (Attachment A) consists of 10 strategic priorities that were identified based on community needs and vision for the food system. Each strategic priority includes a goal and specific actions that support the development of an equitable, resilient, and thriving food system. The 10 priorities include:
Food Access: All Phoenix residents have enough to eat, and fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant food is available, affordable, and easily accessible in every Phoenix neighborhood.
Health: Community health and well-being is improved, supported by education and programs that increase access to nutritious foods.
Education & Training: Food education and trainings are available and accessible to every Phoenix resident.
Food Production: Food production is a valued use of land and is supported by City plans, processes, and resources.
Local Food Economy: A thriving, equitable, and circular food economy that works for all and creates opportunities for community wealth-building.
Food Waste Prevention: Food waste is prevented, surplus food is redistributed to those in need, and inedible food is composted.
Community & Cultural Connections: Community is built around food, and all residents have opportunities to grow, share, and gather in accessible community spaces.
City Planning & Policy: Policies established by the City that support the entire food system are important to the development of a resilient system.
Partnerships & Collaboration: Building meaningful connections with all people involved in our local food system leads to transformational change and resilience.
Food System Resilience: The local food system can withstand and recover from disruptions, and strategies are in place to support and monitor its long-term sustainability.
The draft 2030 Plan was provided to the public for comments for a 30-day period in English, Spanish, and Mandarin from mid-April to mid-May. Forty-five public comments were received, with the majority being positive responses and with items suggested already included in the plan. Additionally, 31 food systems partners including food banks, local farmers, university collaborators, and community organizations signed on to a Letter of Support for the 2030 Plan and have committed to helping implement it. Attachment B shows the list of collaborating organizations and individual support letters received from many of the organizations. The 2030 Plan is available in both English and Spanish.
Plan Development - Community Engagement
OEP co-created the plan with Phoenix residents and other food system stakeholders through an extensive 10-month community engagement process, reaching more than 2,300 residents. From January to October 2025, OEP conducted interactive community workshops, surveys, open houses, tabling events, social media campaigns, and focus groups and interviews with representatives from across the local food system. Gathering input from Phoenix residents, particularly those most affected by limited access to healthy food, was essential to the development of the plan. To reduce barriers to participating in the planning process, all OEP workshops, open houses, and community events provided attendees with food, language interpretation, translated materials, and childcare. During outreach events, the OEP also connected attendees with existing food access resources offered by the City and community partners.
Plan Approach
The 2030 Plan is a community plan for expanding food access and strengthening the local food system. The plan is intended to be implemented collaboratively. Many of the plan’s actions build on existing initiatives and priorities of community partners. The plan recognizes and leverages these efforts, calling out their alignment with community needs and promoting collaboration to strengthen these activities.
Plan Implementation
This 2030 Plan aims for a comprehensive approach to addressing the 10 Strategic Priorities that community members identified in the engagement process. Implementing the actions in each strategic priority requires that City departments and external food system stakeholders, including business, community-based organizations, other government agencies, educational institutions, work together to accomplish the goals in this five-year plan. Funding and other resources also play a critical role in the ability to implement the actions identified and have been estimated. Further refinement of key performance indicators and budget estimates will be needed as the actions are initiated. OEP will develop a mid-point progress report to provide a high-level update on plan progress by the end of 2028. Lastly, a post-plan impact report will be prepared to highlight outcomes of the plan.
Transforming our food system requires everyone: residents, businesses, community organizations, government agencies, schools, and partners across the food lifecycle. Together, we can create transformational, lasting change.
Financial Impact
There is no financial impact. OEP will continue to explore philanthropic, federal, and corporate funding to augment programs wherever possible.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Ginger Spencer and the Office of Environmental Programs.