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, chefs, 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 Ag Futures Alliance to your County, please see our introductory presentation and our Starting a Food System Alliance Frequently Asked Questions.
Roots of Change Network Summit, Oct. 6-8, 2010
For the past 10 years the Ag Futures and Food System Alliance project has been building a network of leaders connected by a shared desire to protect agriculture, the environment, and public health in California in perpetuity. The Roots of Change Network Summit, Policy in Service of Innovation, will be held in Los Angeles from Oct. 6-8, 2010. This summit will be the first ever effort to bring together the members of the Alliances, participants in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Urban-Rural Roundtables, ROC Fellows, and others who are working together for a better future for farmers and communities. The highlight of the event is the California Food and Farm Bill Convention where participants will have a chance to weigh in on and endorse a set of policies to support the changes we have all been working towards over the past years.
This is a packed couple of days and includes:
- The unveiling of the ROC Network Systems Dynamic Mapping Project, where we will get a chance to see a new model of how the California food system actually works and can be changed
- Game changer sessions where we will hear the latest from four cutting edge projects that point the future direction for modern food systems
- Breakout sessions on 6 topics ranging from “Competition and Cooperation: How do we increase farmer power in the marketplace” to “CA and Federal Farm Bills: How do we use state and federal policy to serve innovation?”
AND…For the first time ever, we will hold a one-hour “Meet your fellow Alliance members” session. This will be a great opportunity to finally meet other Alliance members from around the state.
Logistics and registration information is available on the ROC website.
New Food System Alliance Launches in Sonoma County
May 2010
Ag Innovations Network is pleased to announce the launching of a new Food System Alliance in Sonoma County. The introductory meeting was held in October 2009. 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 great agricultural resources, but it also struggles with 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, but 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 post updates as we move forward.