Taylor LaFave

This Q&A was originally published on U-M Sustainable Food Systems Initiative and has been repurposed for the use of Taubman College.

Taylor LaFave (he/him/his) is the Chief of Food Policy and Planning and Food Policy Director for the City of Baltimore. He leads a collaborative team that works to build an equitable and resilient urban food system by addressing health, economic, and environmental disparities in neighborhoods that have high levels of food insecurity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor helped manage the City’s Emergency Food Response by overseeing contracts totaling over $38 million for produce box distribution. He also launched an innovative home delivered grocery box program in partnership with Amazon, the Maryland Food Bank, and the Baltimore Convention Center. Currently, he manages the Food Policy and Planning Division’s $11 million American Rescue Plan Act proposal, “Improving Nutritional Security, Food Access, and Food Equity in Baltimore City During and After COVID-19.” He is the co-chair of the United States Conference of Mayor’s Food Policy Task Force and represents the City of Baltimore on the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact’s Steering Committee.

Taylor earned his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Michigan in 2017. He enjoys working in his neighborhood garden, exploring Baltimore’s history, watching football, swimming, baking pies, and eating good food, especially ice cream. Taylor lives in Baltimore City’s Radnor-Winston neighborhood with his wife and baby boy.

Interviewer: Lunia E. Oriol

In your position as Chief of Food Policy and Planning and Food Policy Director for the City of Baltimore, what are your responsibilities?

I manage the Food Policy and Planning Division that sits within the City of Baltimore’s Department of Planning. In addition to me there are three other full-time staff: the Deputy Director of Food Policy, a Food Access Planner, and a Food Systems Planner. We also have a full-time Food Policy Fellow through funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. While we are situated in the City’s planning department, we work with over 15 City agencies and collaborate at the state, national, and international levels. Our team’s driving goal is to create a more equitable and resilient food system in Baltimore, with a focus on our Healthy Food Priority Areas.

How did the Baltimore City Department of Planning’s Food Policy and Planning Division form?

In 2009, Baltimore’s mayor was interested in what the City could do regarding food policy and food access and created the Baltimore City Food Policy Task Force, which included folks from different agencies. The end result was a report (“Baltimore’s Food Policy Task Force Final Report and Recommendations”) with a broad list of recommendations for the City. One of those recommendations was that the City hire someone to implement the remaining recommendations.

We were one of the first cities in the country to formally do food policy and planning work. My predecessor, Holly Freishtat, started out as a contractor before eventually becoming Baltimore City’s first Food Policy Director. She was one of the first food policy directors in the country at the city/municipal level. We were primarily a policy shop, and did not have money from the City of Baltimore’s General Fund to implement projects. Any financial support came from outside funding.

What drew you to UM? How did a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) prepare you for the work you are doing now?

After I completed my undergraduate degree in political science, I worked for a boutique consulting firm in Grand Rapids, MI with a focus on local political campaigns. I also worked for Grand Rapids’ public transportation system, The Rapid. Both of these jobs expanded my knowledge and interest in urban policy and planning. When I applied to the University of Michigan, I was interested in transportation planning and environmental planning, but I didn’t even know that food policy and planning was a thing. I’ve always loved eating and cooking food and was interested in farming, but did not know that doing planning-related work in food was an option.

Which courses, assignments, or experiences on campus had a significant impact on you?

I really appreciated the number of classes offered and size of the MURP program. Having an interest in law, I found the introductory law course (URP 502/URP 503) applicable when it comes to working on the zoning code and land use and how it affects urban agriculture, food retail, grocery stores, and other food projects. I also liked UP 614: Collaborative Planning (now URP 522) because it was helpful in learning the best ways to engage with residents, communities, and other actors in planning work. Some of those core principles from that class I still think about today when working with leadership from other agencies (e.g., the Mayor’s Office) and in state and federal governments.

I also liked having the opportunity to take classes outside of Taubman College. I took a class on urban agriculture (NRE 501: Urban Agriculture, taught by MaryCarol Hunter with help from Malik Yakini) which got me interested in its connection to land use and improving healthy food access at the neighborhood-level. Food Literacy for All was offered for the first time during my second year and hosted inspiring speakers every week, which expanded my knowledge and interest in food policy.

I learned a lot about managing a team as the Editor-in-Chief of Taubman’s Agora Journal of Urban Planning and Design during my second year. I also completed a capstone project, Strengthening and Transforming the Lower Eastside, in which I worked with 10 fellow students, Professor Margaret Dewar, planning consultant Libby Levy, and the community to create an open space plan for a 15 square-mile area of Detroit with a large amount of vacant land. This gave me invaluable experience on a real planning process, and urban agriculture and food forests were key components of the plan.

Having joined the City of Baltimore as a Food Systems Planner at the height of COVID-19, how did you and your team respond to challenges in the food system?

The resilience of the local food supply chain—and this was not unique to Baltimore—was challenged at the beginning of the pandemic. It was very difficult to access healthy food in neighborhoods across the city. One thing, which is something that we are still focused on today, is the resiliency of our urban and regional farms and the resiliency of community organizations that we partner with to distribute fresh produce boxes. Those folks have always been on the ground, ready to help their neighbors every day, and we quickly came to rely on them and expand our relationships with them during the pandemic.

I joined the team in April 2020 as the Food Systems Planner, which was a new position at the time. One of my first tasks was to launch a home delivered grocery box program in partnership with Amazon, the Maryland Food Bank, and the Baltimore Convention Center. From March 2020–May 2022, we focused on distributing fresh produce boxes in Healthy Food Priority Areas (formerly referred to as “food deserts”). With the help of those community organizations, we distributed over 1.7 million boxes, equivalent to over 180 million servings of fruits and vegetables.

Since 2020, we have invested more than 20 million dollars in regional farms for procuring produce, and we have proven that relying on farms within the region to procure produce is a more reliable way of acquiring a larger variety of produce and a higher quality product.

Baltimore is one of the leaders in food systems planning today, but historically, planners and local governments have not often tried to intervene in food systems. Are you seeing changes among other municipal or city governments in terms of the roles they are playing in shaping food systems?

Now, it is more critical than ever to invest in and work on local and regional food systems. I would say that over the last 15 years, there have been two different waves of momentum. There was a lot of growth from 2010–2020 as other cities started to work on food policy issues and hire food policy directors. The second wave of growth occurred during and after the pandemic. By 2020 (when I joined the team), there were at least twenty cities across the country that at least had a food policy director or someone who was the equivalent of my role. The pandemic forced a larger focus on this work, and subsequently more funding became available.

I am the Co-Chair of the United States Conference of Mayors Food Policy Task Force, and all city-level food policy directors from across the country meet monthly to discuss our work and collaborate on federal policy changes. In the last five years more cities have added food policy directors and staff.

Do you have any advice for UM students interested in food systems (planning) careers?

• Being enrolled in a planning program at a larger university like U-M offers benefits that I encourage everyone to take advantage of. It is very easy to sign up for a class at another college or to get involved in food- and farm-related projects, especially being so close to Detroit which has an incredible urban agriculture community, nationally recognized land bank, and renowned organizations such as the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and Eastern Market.
• While you are in graduate school,focus on learning the technical skills that interest you, as well as the fundamentals of planning practice and policy. Through the UM MURP program, I learned core technical skills which helped me get my first job after grad school, and interact with those currently on my team who specialize in these hard skills. Expose yourself to as much community engagement as possible, and continue to improve your writing and critical thinking skills. You can quickly get up to speed on the policy issues in whatever city your first job is in, but it is much harder to learn new skills once you have a full-time job.
• The Michigan Alumni network is valuable, and there are lots of folks within the food policy space with degrees from different schools at UM. If you are interested in a particular city, just connecting with Michigan alumni can help you get a foot in the door. I am always happy to interact with anyone who is at Taubman or thinking about going to Taubman, and anyone interested in a pursuing a career in food policy and planning.