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Q&A
Council Member Brewer inquires about local produce at Hunts Point and city agencies' purchasing practices
1:19:06
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179 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer asks about the proportion of local versus out-of-town produce at Hunts Point Produce Market and how city agencies can increase local product purchases. Kate MacKenzie from the Mayor's Office of Food Policy responds with information on current efforts to track and increase local food sourcing, while Michelle Lamberti from EDC acknowledges a lack of specific data on local versus non-local produce at Hunts Point.
- New requirements for New York State-sourced apples and onions in city contracts
- Increased purchasing of various New York State products through federal funding
- Opportunities for local sourcing primarily through schools, corrections, and ACS
Gale A. Brewer
1:19:06
I just wanna know that in terms of the produce that comes into Hunt's Point produce market, how much is local and how much is from out of town?
1:19:15
And then following up from my other long term question of how can we get more local products, to be purchased by city agencies, which is, you know, again, sort of like the lettuce washing machine.
1:19:28
It's been going on for years.
1:19:30
This is purchased by DOE, meaning the board the Department of Education, by, correction, by DFTA, etcetera.
1:19:40
Does that go through Hunt's point or is it directly?
1:19:42
Alright.
1:19:43
So that doesn't have any impact.
1:19:44
But my question would be, how much is local?
1:19:47
How much is out of town?
1:19:48
And does any of this discussion have anything to do with New York City purchasing locally?
1:19:54
All great questions.
1:19:55
Yeah.
1:19:55
But they're not they never get answered.
Kate MacKenzie
1:19:57
But but here's what I can tell you, that of we know that what we're buying from, let's say, Cherifarius has a distributor.
1:20:07
She her company is based in New York, and I'm asking her to tell me of the potatoes, the carrots, the lettuce, where is everything coming from.
1:20:15
We have now been at that for four years, and increasingly, the data that I get from the, not you, but you, store is is improving.
1:20:24
So we're closer than we've ever been to knowing how much is coming from New York state fields as opposed to having an address in New York.
1:20:33
I think it is a really important question that we we wanna get more clarity around as it comes to Hunt's point directly, especially in light of things like tariffs and understanding what our our vulnerability to really higher prices are there.
1:20:49
But I can tell you also that since we've been in conversations, we now require through decas all of our apples and onions to come from New York State.
1:21:01
That was always not the case, but that is the case now.
1:21:04
And increasingly with some federal funding that is still here, we are buying more and more New York State specific products, everything from yellow and green squash to shredded white potatoes to corn on the cob to sweet corn, apple slices, and a lot more.
1:21:22
So through those opportunities and again all of that regional infrastructure that we're building, we're getting more specific food products in.
1:21:31
And as you know, because you know this so well, the opportunities for that largely are through schools and then secondarily through the DCAS agencies of corrections and ACS because they're buying the ingredients for meals, not necessarily the full package.
Gale A. Brewer
1:21:46
Right.
1:21:46
Okay.
1:21:47
And so in terms of the market, you don't have that data local versus?
Michelle Lamberti
1:21:52
I do I do.
1:21:54
I do not, council member.
1:21:55
I know that I believe some of our market operators may be here later and they may be a great source for that type of information.
Gale A. Brewer
1:22:03
Okay.
1:22:03
I think we have a question.
1:22:04
Sorry.