Welcome to the Food System Alliance
The Food System Alliance (FSA) is a county-based collaboration between food producers, farm-workers, conservationists, health-care workers, food security activists, chef’s, and consumers who share a desire to build a vibrant, healthy, and durable food system.
The first FSA was started in 2006 in San Mateo County, when over 40 local leaders considered the proposition, “what could we create together that is impossible for us working alone.” Overcoming skepticism that a future-thinking County like San Mateo needed such an Alliance, the founding members engaged in a 10-month process of discovering just how little the coastal farming region and the San Francisco Bay side urban region understood about each other. The result were dozens of new connections between people and organizations and a clear sense that, yes, there was much to be done as an Alliance. The San Mateo group has since focused on Farm Bill Reform, increasing access to land for new farmers, expanding garden-based education, and developing a common argument for why food production matters in this highly urban County.
Food System Alliances are the next step for the Ag Futures Alliance movement. By expanding the roundtable to include important voices concerned with food and health (the San Mateo Alliance is one of the first efforts in the State where both the County Ag Commissioner and Public Health Officer are working together with community leaders to improve health by increasing access to local foods) the Roundtable addresses a new generation of issues and concerns about our food system.
Ag Innovations Network (AIN) is proud to be the sponsor and facilitator of the pioneering San Mateo FSA and the FSA project. Our goal is to create a network of FSAs across the state of California that ultimately can link efforts to more effectively improve local, state and federal policies that impact agriculture, the food system, and the environment.
If you are interested in bringing an Food System Alliance to your County, please see our introductory presentation and our Starting a FSA Frequently Asked Questions.
New Food System Alliance Launches in Sonoma County
September 2009
Ag Innovations Network is pleased to announce the launching of a new Food System Alliance in Sonoma County. The introductory meeting will be held in October. The need for a Food System Alliance in the County was first identified in the Health Action 2020 Vision for Sonoma County, Priorities for Action (2009-2012): Summary of Project Recommendations. Health Action is a multi-stakeholder effort to improve the health of County residents through better access to healthy food, more physical activity, and better access to health care, sponsored by the Sonoma County Department of Health Services.
Funding for the new Alliance has been generously provided by Roots of Change and the Sonoma County Department of Public Health.
Sonoma County, like so many counties in California, faces serious challenges to its food system (which we define as everything necessary to get food from farm to table). it is a County blessed with both great agricultural resources and high rates of food insecurity: in 2005, 23,000 County residents reported not being able to afford enough food, a number that has risen sharply with the ensuing economic downturn. It is a County that enjoys the ability to grow fresh produce virtually year-round and still faces an epidemic of childhood obesity: in 2004, 42% of children ages 5 to 20 were overweight or at risk of being overweight. It is a County that produces $593 million dollars in farm revenue while dairy farmers are struggling to keep their herds.
In this environment, the new Food System Alliance is envisioned as a forum where food system leaders from a wide variety of perspectives can work together to develop policies and projects that improve results for consumers and producers alike. We will keep you posted on progress!