In response to a number of concerns, including the obesity epidemic, state and local governments are seeking to enhance their procurement policies to improve the nutritional content of food they purchase and to purchase more food locally. One way to do so is to give competitive bidding preferences to government procurements of agricultural products or food that is produced in the local community.

ChangeLab Solutions' Consulting Attorney Amy S. Ackerman authored Buy Healthy, Buy Local: An Analysis of Potential Legal Challenges to State and Local Government Local Purchase Preferences, published in the ABA's Urban Lawyer Journal (Vol. 43, No. 4, Fall 2011). This analysis looks at possible legal restrictions on the ability of states and local governments to give preferences to local producers of food. ChangeLab Solutions (formerly Public Health Law & Policy) would like to thank the ABA for giving permission for us to make this article available for download here.

You may also be interested in our other procurement resources:

• Local Food for Local Government: Considerations for Giving Preference to Locally Grown Food
• Understanding Healthy Procurement: Using Government's Purchasing Power to Increase Access to Healthy Food