Funding Sources and Sales Channels: Old Challenges, New Opportunities
The Yuba County foothill region (including our neighbors in Nevada and Butte Counties) has long been home to excellent, regeneratively-minded farmers and ranchers; but we have always struggled to make a living at our craft. This is now changing, with new funding opportunities appearing in the form of State and Federal grants, and exciting new sales channels opening up (in local schools, food banks and emerging food hubs). This discussion is meant to share the good news to the community at large, to increase collaboration between farmers, ranchers and aggregators, and to invite new farmers into the fold.
Details
- Title: Farmer’s Round Table
- Presenter: Olivia Henry
- Guest presenters: Jennifer Rogge, Benjamin Lewis, Joey Haney, Andy Ollove, Samiha Hamdi, Amanda Hixson, Lindsey Pratt, Kali Feierseisel, Christina Harrington
- Date: 9:30-11:30am September 28, 2024
- Location: Alcouffe Center
About Olivia Henry
Olivia is a UCCE Regional Food Systems Advisor serving Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Counties. The program focuses on resilient supply chains; distribution and processing infrastructure; food security; and food waste and recovery. She has a master’s degree in community development from UC Davis, where she focused on employee- and community-owned enterprises. She previously worked on several farms in the Sacramento region, is a candidate California Master Beekeeper and a certified California Naturalist.
About Jennifer Rogge
CDFA Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Superior Region.
About Benjamin Lewis
Benjamin serves in the role of CRARS Farmer Relations, specifically working most of the time with the North Valley Food Hub for Climate-smart Agriculture. He has over 15 years experience helping growers understand and implement NOP Organic and Regenerative Organic standards as a consultant and inspector.
About Joey Haney
Market Manager- North Valley Food Hub / Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems CSU, Chico.
About Andy Ollove
Food Access Program Director, Fresh Approach.
Andy has been working to build resilient food systems since 2014. In that time, he has been particularly focused on increasing the linkages between small-scale, mission-driven farms to communities who have historically been denied access to healthy food landscapes. In the Bay Area, he leads food access work at Fresh Approach, managing a diverse portfolio of projects including two mobile farmers’ markets, traditional farmers’ markets in low-access/low-income neighborhoods, and now the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
About Samiha Hambi
Program Manager, Farms Together
Samiha grew up mostly in the midwest as a first-generation Pakistani immigrant. She began her career in ecological restoration and conservation biology, and relocated to the Bay Area/mostly Miwok and Huichin lands in 2014. Since then, she has worked in various capacities within agroecology, land sovereignty, and food and farmer justice & advocacy. Her passion for this work was strengthened during her time in Peace Corps Panama, where she served as a Community Agro-Environmental Conservation Agent. She graduated in 2022 with a Masters in International Agricultural and Rural Development and Indigenous Studies from Cornell University. Prior to that, Samiha worked at Fresh Approach in 2018-2020.
About Amanda Hixson
Amanda currently helps run the Farm Institute at Sierra Harvest, a non-profit serving the community and agricultural producers of the Sierra Foothills. She has over two decades of food system work ranging from starting her own farm business, creating and directing a county food bank and food hub, and participating in research and evaluation of projects in Brazil and Cambodia. Her specialty focus areas include sustainable agriculture, collaboration with Tribes, disaster resilience, and the emergency food system, public health, and food justice within diverse communities.
Lindsey Pratt
Lindsey brings a diverse background in food and farming to her work at Sierra Harvest’s Farm Institute. With 15 years of experience in organic food retail, farm-to-table restaurants, and hands-on farm work, Lindsey has a deep understanding of the food system from farm to consumer. At Sierra Harvest, she leverages her expertise to support and advance practical, farmer-focused solutions toward a resilient and equitable food system.
Christina Harrington
Christina is the Grant Administration and Outreach Specialist for the Farm to Community Food Hub Program at the CA Department of Food and Agriculture. The new program will offer grants to support the development of community food hubs to increase purchasing of local, environmentally sustainable, climate-smart, and equitably produced food by schools and other institutions. She has a master’ s degree in Environmental Policy and Management from UC Davis, where she co-taught fellow students about the U.S. Farm Bill and analyzed state policies that impact small-scale and BIPOC producers. She’s installed hundreds of acres of drip irrigation, worked on small farms in the Sacramento region, and serves on the City of Davis Open Space and Habitat Commission to preserve agricultural land and natural habitat.
Kali Feierseisel
Farmer Services Director at Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF). CAFF’s mission is to “build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems”. Kali’s team provides technical assistance to farmers across California.
Prior to starting at CAFF 8 years ago, Kali received a Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley, with a focus on local and regio
