Many people in our community do not have access to the fresh food necessary for good health. We are as disconnected from farming and food growing as we are from nature, and the challenges these twin disconnections create for our community are intertwined. A community food system is not only about the ability to grow food - it’s about growing people’s understanding and engagement in the system so that growers have diverse channels for distribution and consumers have access to abundant, healthy food. The food system we are working to create is equitable, resilient, and economically sustainable. It connects people back to the land and to food so that they can create health for themselves and their families, and reaffirms the relationship that people have historically had with food, nature, and community.

The work we do to help create a community-based food system is centered in equity and relationships with the communities we work with. Though this strategy is primarily the focal point of our Harvest Pierce County program, it also integrates our broader work in the rural farm food system as well as our Environmental Education program, to help bring resources to local youth. To deepen the impact of this work over the next 5-years, we will be “evolving (our) programming to address ongoing community needs, especially with black, indigenous, and people of color communities”. 

This evolution will integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge as equally important to our understanding of priorities as more commonly used data such as food access and equity data. With these diverse systems of knowing intertwined, we will “conduct a prioritization process using food access, equity data layers, and community feedback to identify gaps in service area and adapt program delivery accordingly.” Our priorities in this evolution will be to give more communities access to land to grow food, to fully integrate traditional/medicinal/ecological benefits of plants into our programming, and create a healthier “urban orchard” through training and education to make our gleaning program more robust.

A community-based food system also requires farmers and food entrepreneurs to create sustainable food businesses. To continue the evolution of our Farm Foundations training program, we will “develop an Urban Farmer pilot program that centers equity to create access to land and entrepreneurial opportunities”, working with land-owning public agencies to provide this land-access. Along with training and access to land, the next generation of farmers will also need robust distribution channels for the food they grow, so we will “work with partners to create more diverse distribution channels for urban and rural farmers for more resilience in sales”, such as new healthy corner stores and a new centralized food hub.

Creating a healthy, community-based food system is not a 5-year effort - it’s a generational effort. While we focus our efforts on adult training and access, we can’t lose sight of generations to come. To bring more awareness and opportunity to our youth, our Environmental Education program will “provide hands-on and online resources to support garden programming for youth to promote community grown food.” Collectively, the key actions in this strategy will help us strengthen the community food system over the next 5-years, while also putting on a firm foundation to achieve our long-term goal: “By 2040, everyone in Pierce County has equal access to healthy food and equitable decision-making power in strengthening our local food system. Practices include redirecting food waste, building pathways for community advocacy, and promoting socially and environmentally sustainable food consumption.”

Key Measures:

• Program participant feedback on program delivery, knowledge gain, and equitable opportunity
• Return on investment in expanding to serve and partner with BIPOC and high-need communities
• Change in food security for high-need communities as a result of program participation/expansion