Creation of Food Task Force Announced

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Saying demand for locally grown fresh produce is high, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task force to help make Los Angeles "the farmers' market capital of the world."

You can watch John Schwada's report in the video player.

Amid stalls of fruits, vegetables and flowers at the weekly farmers' market on the south lawn of City Hall, Villaraigosa said the task force would "ensure that our residents have access to healthy, organic and affordable food, provide economic support for sustainable farming practices, help more farmers find local fields, and supply under-served communities with healthy alternatives to fast food."

The city will partner with the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute of Occidental College and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps over the next six months to research and develop policy on food retail and marketing issues; urban agriculture and community gardens; emergency food networks; sustainable agriculture, water use and pesticide use; food waste; and school feeding and nutrition education programs.

The task force will have a dozen members and will be funded with federal stimulus money, Villaraigosa said.

The city and county of Los Angeles already have the most weekly farmers' markets in the country -- 120 -- serving about 250,000 people, officials said.

"It's my idea of heaven -- seeing all the farmers, talking to all the people who grow the food, smelling the food, seeing the tremendous ethnic diversity, cultural diversity and agricultural diversity that we have in Los Angeles," said Jonathan Gold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic for LA Weekly.

Villaraigosa said that for every dollar spent at a farmers' market, 45 cents is redirected to the local economy.

"When the first lady of the United States is planting vegetables in the White House backyard, and when the president of the United States is calling for a farmers' market on the front lawn, you know that the demand for locally grown fresh produce has hit the highest levels," he said.