Making sure the right food is sustainable and available to everyone in need was the focus of a recent community session in Santa Barbara, where stakeholders embarked on the first step toward creating a way to do just that.
Nearly 100 people gathered in the Faulkner Gallery of Santa Barbara’s main library for a two-hour meeting to talk about a joint passion: food.
They came from all professions — from farmers and environmentalists, to city and Santa Barbara County employees — and grouped together in fours to work toward creating a Food Action Plan.
That effort kicked off last week because of a newly formed partnership between local agencies to tackle the food system, wanting to create more access for the hungry, improve the health of residents, secure agriculture resources for the future, protect the environment, and strengthen the region’s economic vitality.
The Food Action Plan partnership of the Community Environmental Council, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, the Orfalea Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation hosted three community-listening sessions, the first of which was last Tuesday in Santa Maria.
Wednesday sessions were hosted in Santa Barbara and Solvang, spread out so more community members could help develop a countywide food system blueprint.
“We are not looking for consensus today,” said Joseph McIntyre, executive director of AG Innovations Network, who served as facilitator. “All the ideas that come out of today will be part of the mix …
“Let’s respect our differences. Part of what we bring in here is our unique experience.”
McIntyre has hosted similar workshops across the country in the name of finding a food system to fit each region’s needs.
In Santa Barbara County, for instance, where rich agricultural land produces more than one million metric tons of fruits and vegetables each year, organizers said many families struggle to gain access to affordable and nutritious food.
Attendees wrote ideas on note cards color-coded to correspond with one of five areas: economic development, agriculture viability, environment and natural resources, health and nutrition, food access and justice.
Local-to-local food access was difficult, one participant said. Another suggested fellow farmers be more specific in their marketing efforts.
Barbara Anderson of the Orfalea Foundation said listening sessions were just one part of the 14-month process, which will also include interviews with community members and taking a hard look at the strengths and weaknesses of the local food system.
A food system includes how food is grown, transported, sold and made available down to food-waste management, said Sigrid Wright of the Community Environmental Council.
At the conclusion of the process, she said, a community-based blueprint could recommend increasing small-scale gardens and farms, improving food literacy, reducing food waste or anything else locals value.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.