United States-European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries
Overview of Second Annual Urban Freight Roundtable at 2017 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

---

Local and Regional Food Distribution Working Group

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) has established a Local and Regional Food Distribution (LRFD) Working Group to help enhance local food supply chains that connect rural and suburban farmers to urban-based marketplaces in the Washington, DC metro region. Many producers and businesses in this region (and in other regions) struggle to connect with scale-appropriate infrastructure for product aggregation and distribution. This project is currently supported by local philanthropic contributions and by a U.S. Department of Agriculture program called Leveraging Investment for Network Coordination (Food LINC). As part of the FoodLINC initiative, MWCOG hired a full-time Regional Food Systems Value Chain Coordinator to work with the LRFD Working Group and other regional stakeholders.

The LRFD Working Group is helping to enhance food chain supply logistics in the Washington, D.C. region.
Source: Lindsay Smith, MWCOG.

Project Type

Pilot

Period of Performance

Beginning March 2017

Project Site(s)

Washington, D.C. metro region

Website

https://www.mwcog.org/environment/planning-areas/agriculture-andforestry/regional-agricultureinitiative/

Contacts

Lindsay Smith, AICP
Regional Food Systems Value Chain Coordinator
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
(202) 962-3307
LSmith@mwcog.org

Jon Schermann
Transportation Planner IV
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
(202) 962-3317
JSchermann@mwcog.org

Challenges Addressed

• Urban market accessibility for regional and local food products

Expected Outcomes

As a strategic convener of food-system stakeholders, the LRFD Working Group is expected to strengthen local and regional farm businesses and increase access to healthy, sustainable, local food for regional consumers.

The LRFD Working Group will:

• Identify infrastructure gaps and underutilized capacity for aggregation, cross-docking, etc. of local produce, meat, seafood, and dairy products.
• Be a forum for discussing logistics challenges and exploring potential policy and programmatic solutions.
• Foster business connections among producers, distributors, and customers in the Washington, DC metro region.
• Communicate resource, research, policy, and programmatic needs to MWCOG member jurisdictions.
• Develop metrics and goals for increasing local and regional food distribution efficiencies.

Stakeholder Involvement

MWCOG staff interviewed a range of food system stakeholders working in different areas of the supply chain to develop a work plan and identify potential participants. Stakeholders interviewed include nonprofits, farmers, local government staff, institutions, distributors, and grocers.