San Diego Food System Alliance

03/12/2025

Shocked and overwhelmed by the amount of federal actions in the past several weeks freezing funding and dismantling agencies that support resilient food systems, sustain working families, and advocate for a healthy and livable planet? So were we.⁠
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In these slides, and at the article linked in our bio, we’ve tried to demystify what’s going on and outline key federal programs and agencies that are currently at risk, and are having severe local impacts here in San Diego County. These programs include USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance; Partnerships for Climate-smart Commodities; Increasing Land, Capital, and Markets; Regional Food Business Centers; Medicaid and SNAP, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, NOAA, and countless others. Several well-known and loved San Diego County farms, fisheries, food businesses, working families, nonprofit organizations, and the communities they serve have already felt the impacts.⁠
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We urge our community to join us in the following:⁠
1) 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘇𝗲𝘀⁠
2) 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝘁 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆⁠
3) 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴⁠
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Learn how at sdfsa.org/mobilize, or the link in in our bio.⁠
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Beyond surviving the gap created by these frozen funds and contracts, we are strategizing about the future of funding this essential food system work that cultivates justice, fights climate change, and builds resilience in our region. We will continue to share as we unearth solutions and find ways forward, together.

12/12/2024

We’re thrilled to share that our 2024 Annual Gathering session recordings are now available to watch on our YouTube channel!

Watch all session videos now: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG9atoPvYCRJlkP-AhnoTOd0ocZ13rVhG

At the 2024 Annual Gathering in October, over 500 San Diegans came together to share stories and ideas for how we can invest in our local food economy, preserve agricultural land and soils, elevate wages and working conditions for food and farm workers, increase community ownership and cooperative food businesses, promote food sovereignty, and more.

Next year, 2025, will be the halfway point of San Diego County Food Vision 2030—a milestone and opportunity for our community to reflect on what we have learned and experienced over the past half decade, and what lies ahead in the second half. Changes are on the horizon—thoughtful ones. We’ll be sharing with you all soon!

11/08/2024

Photos from our 4th Annual Gathering in October are here! Visit https://sdfsa.org/blog/4th-annual-gathering-photos-are-here for the full gallery.

This week, these photos have reminded us that we are still the community we were on this day. And perhaps, with more resolve than ever. We still live in the deep belief of a vibrant, resilient, regional food system that honors ecology, culture, lineage, and the sovereignty of every being. We believe there is a governance reality that will get us there.

It also means we must still rumble with the same uncomfortable truths that have always been present: Getting to our vision is no easy path. We will be met with heartbreak, disappointment, and seemingly inconceivable forces of injustice. To transform and decolonize our ways, and to grow our capacity for true, material solidarity, we will be forced to take a long, hard look at ourselves. We will not have the luxury of denying this crucial step. We will need to find ways to organize at scale, sharpen our narrative, grow our coalition, and expand our vision and practices to the scale of governance. We will arrive at uncomfortable moments when we feel hurt and deeply divided—within our own movement. When these moments arise, do we fracture? Do we fuel our actions with ego or rage? Do we, too, sow seeds of division and welcome monoculture?

We sure hope not. We’re here. There is no easy way out. We don’t mean a way out of the results of any election—we mean out of this long-haul fight for justice and liberation. We are in it, and there is no easy way out... but in community, we walk this way with resilience and power.

Grateful for our community. Let’s hold on to each other and get to work 🔨🪄

11/08/2024

Photos from our 4th Annual Gathering in October are here 🌌 Visit the link in our bio for the full gallery. Today, these photos remind us that we are still the community we were on this day. And perhaps, with more resolve than ever.

We still live in the deep belief of a vibrant, resilient, regional food system that honors ecology, culture, lineage, and the sovereignty of every being. We believe there is a governance reality that will get us there.

It also means we must still rumble with the same uncomfortable truths that have always been present: Getting to our vision is no easy path. We will be met with heartbreak, disappointment, and seemingly inconceivable forces of injustice. To transform and decolonize our ways, and to grow our capacity for true, material solidarity, we will be forced to take a long, hard look at ourselves. We will not have the luxury of denying this crucial step. We will need to find ways to organize at scale, sharpen our narrative, grow our coalition, and expand our vision and practices to the scale of governance. We will arrive at uncomfortable moments when we feel hurt and deeply divided—within our own movement. When these moments arise, do we fracture? Do we fuel our actions with ego or rage? Do we, too, sow seeds of division and welcome monoculture?

We sure hope not. We’re here. There is no easy way out. We don’t mean a way out of the results of any election—we mean out of this long-haul fight for justice and liberation. We are in it, and there is no easy way out... but in community, we walk this way with resilience and power.

Grateful for our community. Let’s hold on to each other and get to work 🔨🪄

10/10/2024

Our team had a wonderful time visiting earlier this week! 🦅 Golden Eagle Farm is growing organic veggies, fruits, herbs, and Native ethnobotanicals all for sale to community members and the general public. They also have been putting on night markets all summer, and have renovated an amazing guesthouse on the property that can be rented out for vacations, retreats, etc.

Make sure to save the date for their big holiday Barn Sale the weekend of 11/16-11/17 with a farmers market, makers market, native vendors, crafts, food trucks, music, and more 💖 info on their IG.

The farm is operated by the Mesa Grande Business Development Corporation (BDC) for the benefit of the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians. We felt all the love for food, land, and community during our visit and can’t wait to visit again soon.

10/09/2024

We’re thrilled to share the full lineup of sessions and speakers for Cooperation: the 4th Annual Gathering for ! 🎤🎤🎤

After working for months with dozens of partners across San Diego County’s community food system (and beyond!) to determine important themes and dialogues currently top of mind for our region and movement, we’ve settled on these 15 sessions that we hope will seed joy, learning, curiosity, inspiration, and above all, cooperation—in all of us.

If you’re registered to attend the Annual Gathering, you’ll be able to attend up to three (3) of these sessions throughout the day — one in the morning, one after lunch, and one at the end of the day. This year, we’ve given each of these time blocks a theme. So no matter what session we have chosen to attend, we’ll be experiencing the same theme together.

First sessions • 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 • 10am-11:30am
Second sessions • 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 • 1pm-2:30pm
Third sessions • 𝘔𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 • 3pm-4:30pm

Full descriptions for each session are at the link in our bio. Also, we quickly reached the 20 tag limit in this post, but we’ll include more tags in our stories. Which session are you most looking forward to?

08/14/2024

Congratulations to our friends at Project New Village - San Diego on launching this brilliant podcast 🖤❤️💚 Episode 1 is out now and we're so excited to tune in!

In San Diego County, we are fortunate to have the deep wisdom and assets of Southeastern San Diego's community and lineage. The seeds of SESD's Good Food District—a model for cultivating food sovereignty through a community-rooted, placed-based effort—were planted in large part by the dozen or so Black founders of Project New Village, including the late Robert Tambuzi. Listen to their story now 👇🏿

Episode 1 - History / Robert Tambuzi

08/08/2024

🎟️ A beautiful event is around the corner on Sunday 8/25! The Dockside Night Market is a celebration of our local fisheries and all of the diverse species San Diego has to offer. Enjoy a variety of dishes that showcase our freshest catch of the day, prepared by local chefs.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dockside-night-market-local-fish-global-flavors-tickets-888541109377

100% of ticket profits will be donated to The San Diego Fishermans' Working Group to protect the commercial fishing interests and opportunities in San Diego by providing seafood choices that affirm regional cultural traditions, support local communities, and contribute to the health and productivity of natural marine resources.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱?
Eating local seafood is one of the best ways we can nourish our bodies, the environment, and our community. It connects us with the land and sea where we live, builds a relationship with fishing families and the hard work of harvesting seafood, boosts our local economy, supports preservation of essential skills and jobs, and is a great choice for our health ❤️🐟 Help support a diverse and rich food system by eating local seafood.

We hope to see you there!

07/26/2024

We’re thrilled to announce that registration for the 4th Annual Gathering for San Diego County Food Vision 2030 is now open!

🌌 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
4th Annual Gathering for San Diego County Food Vision 2030
Thursday, October 17, 2024 @ 9am-4pm (Doors open at 8am)
California Center for the Arts
Learn more & register: https://www.theannualgathering.org/

The Annual Gathering calls in our community to be together, see each other, and collectively invest in San Diego County’s local food economy, preserve agricultural land and soils, elevate food and farm workers, shift toward a relational and reciprocal food culture, center cooperation and food sovereignty, and more.

A few things we're excited about for this year:

💫 ~15 sessions
💫 ~500 participants
💫 Local food
💫 Community Hall
💫 Community Altar
💫 Youth Summit
💫 Spanish interpretation
💫 Free childcare onsite
💫 Volunteer opportunities
💫 Scholarships & stipends available

Details about it all on the event website ⬇️ See you in October!

05/07/2024

Are you a small to medium sized food recovery organization or mutual aid effort serving communities in San Diego County? Come to our Food Recovery Networking Night later this month to connect, share knowledge, and explore ways to support each other!

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-recovery-networking-night-tickets-899555794597
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024 @ 5-7pm⁠
Porchlight Community Services ⁠⁠
8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd⁠
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Drinks, snacks, and good vibes provided 😸⁠
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Food Recovery Networking Night is organized by the San Diego Food System Alliance, our Food Recovery Community Table, and other treasured community partners. We hope to see you there!

04/30/2024

Last week, we were thrilled to partner with our friend Mai Nguyen to host the workshop "Introduction to Worker Cooperatives: Food & Farm Edition" 🔥 Thanks to all participants for spending the day with us to talk about !⁠
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Mai (they/them) is a farmer, grain grower, activist, co-op developer, parent, and most recently, a 2024 James Beard Foundation award finalist. This workshop was designed for small-scale farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and food business owners, and offered through the Alliance's .
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Democratically-run businesses where the workers are the owners give us the chance to radically change our economy, ecologies, and relationships for a more equal society. The workshop provided a basic understanding of the structure and start-up needs for a worker cooperative business, and seeded dialogue around the transformative collective work that is needed to build a culture that supports cooperative economies.⁠
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What about worker / excites you? These are shaping up to be topics at our Annual Gathering this fall...

04/29/2024

The new North County Fishermen's Market is NOW OPEN, every Sunday from 8am-2pm at Oceanside Harbor! We had a blast at the grand opening this past weekend and left with the freshest seafood 🐟🍣🦀🦐⁠

The Alliance's is thrilled to have been on the journey with the North County Fishermen's Market for the past year leading up to their opening. We shared a vision for a local food economy where producers and small food business owners are thriving. Providing seed funding, tailored business coaching, technical support, and making introductions and connections are a few of the ways the Lab was able to provide support 🤝🏽
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As eaters, when we shop at fishermen's markets, we have the chance to:
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🔸 Purchase directly from our local fishermen⁠
🔸 Support fishing families in our communities
🔸 Know and enjoy the incredibly diverse seafood species caught right here, off our coasts!⁠
🔸 Eat from a shorter supply chain (less transportation, packaging, and waste)⁠
🔸 Save money - no supermarket or middleman markup!! Prices on whole fish, oysters, clams, crabs, etc. here had grocery stores beat 💵⁠
🔸 Ensure that fishing skills are preserved from generation to generation⁠
🔸 Eat the most responsibly & sustainably caught seafood - California and the U.S. have the most rigorous standards for fisheries⁠
🔸 Make it a family event! It's fun and fulfilling to shop in the sun, from our local food producers⁠
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Getting to know the farmers and fishermen in our region make us more engaged and connected eaters. It's better for our bodies, our oceans, our future, and our communities 🌱⁠

Support will be needed to ensure markets like this one can thrive. Stay tuned for more from the , and do your seafood shopping at North County Fishermen's Market next Sunday—and the one after. See you there!