Drake to help food councils

Drake University’s Agricultural Law Center has won a 200-thousand dollar federal grant to help Iowa and three other states develop “Food Policy Councils.”.Drake Professor Neil Hamilton says a food policy council helps a state learn the best ways to manufacture and distribute food. Hamilton says the U-S Department of Agriculture is funding the grant. The grant will provide staff money for Iowa and Connecticut’s food policy councils and will help start up councils in North Carolina and Utah. Hamilton says the Ag Department wants to know if the council idea is something that should be used nationwide.Hamilton says the food policy councils are an outgrowth of increased public concern over the safety of the food supply.Hamilton was appointed the chair of Iowa’s food policy council by Governor Tom Vilsack. Hamilton says Iowa’s council will make its initial report on its first year activities in April.