Purchasing Power

The report argues that large-scale institutional food procurement can drive systemic change in the US food system by leveraging collective buying power to demand sustainable, healthy, and fair food production. It highlights the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP), which uses five value categories—local economies, environmental sustainability, nutrition, valued workforce, and animal welfare—to guide procurement. A case study of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) demonstrates that adopting these standards can lead to significant local economic gains, reduced carbon and water footprints, improved student health outcomes, and industry-wide shifts, such as the increased production of antibiotic-free chicken in the US.

• The US food system is characterized by high corporate consolidation, where the top 10 companies control over half of all food sales, and farmers receive less than 16 cents of every food dollar.
• Industrial animal agriculture is a significant environmental contributor, accounting for between 8 and 18 percent of total global heat-trapping emissions.
• The Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) is a procurement strategy adopted by cities across the US that influences $280 million in annual food purchases.
• In the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), GFPP adoption has directed $30 million annually toward local food and supported the creation of over 221 jobs across the supply chain.
• LAUSD's meat reduction strategies between 2013 and 2015 reduced the district's carbon footprint by approximately 22 percent annually, avoiding 9 million kilograms of CO2 emissions and saving over 1 billion gallons of water.
• Implementing sodium reduction targets in LAUSD could lower sodium intake by 11.5 to 14.6 percent for students, potentially reducing blood pressure for 160,000 students.
• The removal of processed meats from LAUSD school lunches could prevent up to 95 lifetime cases of colorectal cancer per graduating class.
• LAUSD's demand for antibiotic-free chicken contributed to a market shift where the share of ready-to-cook chicken produced without antibiotics by the top three US producers rose from 5 percent in 2015 to 20 percent in 2017.
• If all public schools in Los Angeles County adopted GFPP meat reduction strategies similar to LAUSD, they could reduce their total carbon footprints by over 33 million kg of CO2 annually and save more than 4 billion gallons of water.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (n.d.). Purchasing Power. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/purchasing-power-report-ucs-2017.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Purchasing Power. n.d. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/purchasing-power-report-ucs-2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Purchasing Power |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/purchasing-power-report-ucs-2017.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientistsndpurchasing, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Purchasing Power}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/purchasing-power-report-ucs-2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }