Led by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), this project focuses on enhancing resilience across the middle of the food supply chain by supporting local and regional producers with an emphasis on small and underserved businesses. The initiative seeks to expand capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, and fair wages, and to create new and safe job opportunities. By creating more and better market opportunities and new streams of revenue to small and mid-sized agricultural producers this program will also result in thriving local communities, strengthen food security, and promote fair economic opportunities. Together with Roots of Change (ROC), Institute of the Environment (UC Davis), and the Council of Development Finance Agencies, this project will serve to improve supply chain resilience for small and mid-size regional producers, positively impacting historically disadvantaged communities.
Project Goals and Deliverables
- Outreach with regions throughout California to identify existing, planned, and needed food infrastructure that serve small and mid-size producers.
- Develop an understanding of and map opportunities for connections that would strengthen the supply chain to serve more communities.
- Develop and publish a report that will guide public agencies, nonprofits, community-based initiatives, and private companies involved in supply chain resilience efforts, featuring a vision for how the California agri-food system would look by 2040 to best address food supply chain needs.
Community Engagement
This project actively involves community members, organizations, and stakeholders across California to ensure that its outcomes address local needs and priorities. Participants will contribute insights about their food systems and supply chain challenges, engage in collaborative workshops, and provide feedback on draft recommendations. These inputs will inform strategic infrastructure investments and policy directions that support equitable and sustainable food systems. We will be hosting a series of in person meetings and web-based workshops to receive iterative feedback from stakeholders throughout this process.
Participating in Stakeholder Engagement
The project will collect data through a series of listening sessions, workshops, and feedback events. Stipends will be provided for regional representative participation.
- Six listening sessions (three in-person and three virtual) to understand community perspectives.
- Four web workshops to share resources on grants, technical assistance, and business planning with communities
- Six follow up feedback sessions (three in-person and three virtual) on the drafted report and analyses.
By fostering collaboration among stakeholders, the project will analyze the information provided to develop a long-term vision for California’s agricultural future and lay the groundwork for future infrastructure funding.
For more information about this project, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].