On January 26th, CFF partnered with Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) to host a webinar titled, A Regional Imperative: Making The Case for Regional Food Systems. In it, authors Kathy Ruhf and Kate Clancy present an overview and key findings from their new report of the same name, which updates and greatly expands on the authors 2010 working paper, It Takes A Region.
Although the term “regional food system” is used more frequently these days, regional food systems are inadequately understood and valued. A Regional Imperative: Making the Case for Regional Food Systems, a new Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) report by Kathy Ruhf and Kate Clancy, takes a comprehensive look at regional food systems and makes a compelling case for their importance in food systems change work. Clancy and Ruhf are not new to this topic. This report greatly expands their 2010 NESAWG working paper: It Takes a Region. As two of NESAWG’s founders, they have championed regionalism and regional food systems as core to NESAWG’s work for over three decades. Join CFF on January 26th when the authors will present the key concepts of the report, along with examples from the field. Ruhf and Clancy will distill the material into digestible “take-aways” for food system practitioners, educators, policymakers, funders, researchers and advocates.
CFF is working with Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders (SAFSF) and the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) to ensure the presence of 'good food' advocates at the annual meetings convening the heads of state departments of agriculture. The following letter was shared with the wider CFF network on behalf of Christine James, Executive Director of the John Merck Fund.
On February 1st, CFF partnered with Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) to host an event titled Northeast Food Movement Organizing. Twenty participants gathered in-person and online to hear about new initiatives and opportunities to engage the leaders of state agriculture departments and help build a regional coalition of non-profits at the same time.
Join Community Food Funders and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) for a discussion on the role philanthropy can play in working with our state policymakers in supporting the good food systems work of our grantees. We will hear from SAFSF Executive Director Virginia Clarke who has spearheaded the effort to sponsor the annual NASDA meetings and send a local cohort of food systems advocates to each meeting since 2014. We will also hear a debrief on the 2017 NEASDA meeting from a group of advocates who attended under CFF sponsorship, including NESAWG Executive Director Tracy Lerman.
