Community Food Systems: Linking Farmers, Consumers
and Communities

Gail Feenstra

In the face of an increasingly global food economy, diminishing natural resources, growing food insecurity and a public who has lost touch with where their food comes from, communities nationwide are exploring the notion of a "community food system." A community food system is one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution and consumption are integrated to enhance the economic, environmental, social and nutritional health of a particular place. Across the country, communities have initiated diverse projects that develop connections between different parts of the food system. One central aspect of these projects is that local residents participate more actively in their food system to achieve the following goals:

• Improved access by all community members to an adequate, affordable, nutritious diet from local, non-emergency sources (community food security);
• A stable base of family farms using production practices that are less chemical and energy-intensive, and emphasize local inputs;
• Marketing and processing practices that create direct links between farmers and consumers;
• Food and ag-related businesses that create jobs and recirculate financial capital within the community;
• Improved living and working conditions for farm and food system labor; and
• Food and agriculture policies that promote local food production, processing and consumption.

UC SAREP and others have supported comprehensive community food systems projects; yet the processes essential for developing a successful project are sometimes elusive. "Growing a Community Food System" is a tool describing key processes that bring farmers, consumers and other community stakeholders together to target food system priorities and develop their projects.

An overview of the key processes involved in developing successful community food system projects includes strategic planning, development of resources and project infrastructure, project implementation, and evaluation/reflection. At the heart of this process is building a diverse coalition through a collaborative process. This means encouraging participation by multiple formal and informal organizations, associations and individuals with a variety of backgrounds and expertise. A broad cross-section of the community is important for the project to be representative and contribute to the growth of the community. Coalition partners are motivated to participate in this process because they will benefit from such a partnership in multiple ways, including: allowing the group to tackle more complex issues; improving the coordination of services; policy development through support of a variety of constituencies; more effective leveraging of resources; and better outreach in the community.

Our work at SAREP funding these community food systems coalitions suggests developing them takes time and attention. It is always a challenge to bring diverse groups such as farmers, university researchers and non-profits to the table to achieve project goals. One of the most common pitfalls is the temptation for researchers or non-profits to come into a community with an "intervention strategy" and a lot of resources up front and hope that the community buy-in and commitment will follow. This is not always the case. Community members or farmers may be confused about how much they "own" the project. The bottom line is what happens when a grant is used up or the non-profit or university personnel move on to other areas. Is the project left "hanging" with few resources, or are they empowered to carry on by themselves? We strongly support the notion of taking small, incremental steps toward project autonomy, with community partners or farmers being active participants and decision-makers at each stage. Although results may be longer in coming, the sustainability of the project is ensured.

One example of a project that demonstrates attention to a broad-based participatory process is the Berkeley Food Systems Project. This project aims to increase the amount of local and organic produce in the school district’s food service from area farmers, community and school gardens. The coalition, formed of Berkeley residents, parents, teachers, food service personnel, elected officials, farmers’ market representatives, researchers and non-profits has also formed a food policy council to institutionalize positive results and improve community food security for Berkeley residents. In addition to developing plans for salad bars in several of the schools, increasing the number of school gardens, and introducing organic food into school lunches, the coalition has written a district-wide school food policy promoting local and organic food and has introduced language in the General Plan to improve community food security.

Gail Feenstra
Food Systems Analyst
Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-8716
Tel: (530) 752-8408
gwfeenstra@ucdavis.edu

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