The Journal of Food Law and Policy at the U of A School of Law is proud to announce the online release of its special issue dedicated to the historic 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, held last fall in Washington, D.C. This issue is dedicated to legal scholarship commenting on the Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that was introduced at the conference.

It has been almost 50 years since the White House convened leaders to Washington to discuss the critical issues surrounding hunger, nutrition and health. Bipartisan leaders in Congress supported a new convening to address current issues of concern.

Susan Schneider, the William H. Enfield Professor of Law and the director of the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law, was invited to the conference and in her capacity as advisor to the Journal of Food Law & Policy, and the proposed the special issue.

Schneider noted, “It is exciting to have the Journal at the forefront of the critical issues of hunger, nutrition and health, and we are proud to offer this special issue as our contribution to furthering the dialogue.”

The issue is introduced with an essay by Ambassador Susan Rice, who then served as the director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council in the Biden White House conference and who helped organized the initiative. In this essay, “Special Issue: Hunger, Nutrition, and Health,” Ambassador Rice summarizes the National Strategy and how the White House Conference seeks to address critical food issues in the United States.

In “Healthy School Meals for All: The Role of Food Law and Policy,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack provides insight into the United States Department of Agriculture’s recent efforts to provide nutritious school lunches for children, highlighting both the critical importance of school meals and the administration’s commitment to “healthy school meals for all.”

Christine Going, now senior advisor in the Food Security Program Office of the Veterans Health Administration, outlines how the administration is addressing food and nutrition security among U.S. veterans in her article, “VA’s Work to Ensure Veteran’s Food Security.”

Schneider’s article “Climate Change, Food Security, and the Myth of Unlimited Abundance” brings a different dimension to the issues with a discussion of the impact of climate change on food and nutrition security.

Rachel Fischer, Katrina L. Piercy,  Janet M. de Jesus, Paul Reed and Rachel L. Levine co-authored  “Putting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into Action through the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.” This article “details how expanded implementation of the Dietary Guidelines can help advance actions in the National Strategy and achieve the goals of the administration.”

Harvard Food Law & Policy clinician Heather Latino addresses the efforts of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to increase food accessibility and offers suggestions on strengthening underserved communities while being mindful to not increase current disparities. Her article in the special issue is “Leveraging Housing Programs: Ensuring that Food Access Investments Do Not Displace People.”

The full issue is available on the Journal of Food Law & Policy’s website. The publication has long been recognized as a leader in publishing articles and essays on food law and its impact on society. When the inaugural issue was published, no other student-edited journal was devoted to the topic, and few law schools recognized the emerging discipline of food law and policy. Since that time, the journal has led the nation in recognizing the significance of studying the legal framework of our food system, from farm to fork. It is published twice a year and is edited by dedicated law students at the U of A School of Law.

About the University of Arkansas School of Law: The law school offers a competitive J.D. and is home to the nation’s first LL.M. program in agriculture and food law. Led by nationally recognized faculty, the school offers students pro bono work, live client clinics, public service fellowships, competitions, and much more. Students also benefit from our location in one of the fastest growing, most livable, and economically vibrant regions in the U.S., and from our corporate externship partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. Our alumni have gone on to become judges, senators, governors, and professors, and we serve communities throughout our state and nation through programs such as the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. Our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion is exemplified by the Six Pioneers, the first Black students to attend law school in the South without a court order. Follow us at @uarklaw.