Welcome to the Ag Innovations Network!
Food and food production is the cornerstone of civilization. How we produce, distribute, and consume food reflect both what works and what is failing in our modern world.
Ag Innovations Network’s mission is to support the emergence of a new food system that reflects our best hopes and dreams for the future. Our work is focused on facilitating the critical dialogues that will help bring this new food system into reality.
We invite you to learn more about our work, our team, and our vision.
Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
Over Labor Day weekend, Ag Innovations Network will be actively involved in Slow Food Nation. This event is a watershed in American food systems work, the largest ever gathering of people of celebrate food as the cornerstone of a healthy society. It is also the largest gathering of leaders who are concerned about the direction of American food system policy and the health of American consumers.
New Ag Innovations Network Site Launches
On August 29 we launched the new Ag Innovations Network website, where you can get learn about our work to create a better future for farmers, consumers and communities. The site was designed by Andrea Schwandt-Arbogast. Let us know what you think (and if you see any glitches), drop us a note.
News from the Ag Futures and Food System Alliances
Strawberries are a key commodity in Ventura County
The Ag Futures and Food System Alliance movement is project to bring together food producers, consumers, local leaders, health care advocates, and environmentalists to work at county-level action to create a food system that matches our hopes and dreams for the future. Today there are four “Roundtables” working across California. Here is a quick rundown on each:
The Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) has been in operation since 2000 and has spawned California’s largest grassroots effort to build farm worker housing, brought hundreds of citizens together to advance stewardship efforts in their county, and published six citizen while papers on topics ranging from pesticide use to providing health care for farm workers each of which has been backed by concrete local actions.
Read More »Rebuilding our Food System, One Story at a Time
When was the last time you heard a story that changed the way you felt or thought? Was it a bedtime story you parents told you (or you told your children)? Something a friend told you about their life or fears?
There are incredible stories all around us—including ones we tell ourselves and others about food, change, and the future. These stories have power. Power to move us and power to freeze us in place.
We all carry these stories.
Read More »Food System Alliance: Bringing Community Together
In San Mateo County a hearty group of 25 are working to unravel why in a community with a rich agricultural heritage there are still over 30,000 people who go hungry every night. Why young and willing farmers are becoming discouraged at the prospect of never owning their own land while land that is held in public trust lays fallow? Why a community consensus on how to manage fisheries has been systematically stymied by out-of-county regulations?
By looking at these fundamental questions, the San Mateo County Food System Alliance (SMFSA) is in a process of mutual learning we all can benefit from.
Read More »