Farm to Institution Metrics Collaborative 

The Farm to Institution Center is a contributing member of the National Farm to Institution Metrics Collaborative, a group dedicated to developing best practices for measuring the impact of the institutional market across the supply chain. Our nation-wide, multi-sector collaborative seeks to develop a common set of food procurement metrics, benchmarks, and best-practices for institutional dining and food service that promote the health and resilience of their community’s economic, ecological, and social systems. 

The ultimate aim of the Collaborative is to codify the more-than-financial values associated with ‘local’ food into a replicable set of metrics that support meaningful tracking, benchmarking, and impact measurement across institutions and the nation. 

For more information, visit: ftimetrics.localfoodeconomics.com

Pilot Project 2019-2020

In the fall of 2019, the National Farm to Institution Collaborative launched a 1-year pilot project, sponsored by USDA AMS, to identify key farm impact metrics that can be used by farm to institution practitioners across the country. Through this project our consortium of farm to institution leaders from across the supply chain has identified the following metrics: 

For more information on the tools and resources developed, visit: ftimetrics.localfoodeconomics.com/#tools 

Contributing Members 

The Farm to Institution Center is proud to collaborate with the following organizations for this project:

  • Center for Good Food Purchasing  
  • Farm to Institution New England  
  • Food Connection at the University of Kentucky  
  • Health Care Without Harm  
  • Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems 
  • National Farm to School Network  
  • Real Food Generation 
  • USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) 
  • USDA Food and Nutrition Services