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The New Mainstream 5-Year Campaign Strategy |
In 2003, ROC began work with hundreds of CA food system leaders on the Vivid Picture Project to create a comprehensive vision for a sustainable food system for CA by 2030. Released in Nov. 2005, The New Mainstream outlined this vision and the associated measurable indicators that can be used to track progress toward sustainability.
Over the last year, the ROC community has been hard at work on a detailed implementation strategy for this vision. Last summer, the first class of ROC Planning Fellows lent their experience, expertise, and on-the-ground knowledge of the state’s food system to an intensive strategic planning process. The ROC Fellows began to identify and prioritize the work needed between 2007 and 2011 to achieve the 2030 goal for a sustainable food system. This work was then honed by members of the ROC Stewardship Council , the Business Leaders Council , the Workforce Workgroup , and ROC’s Coordinating Team , resulting is this draft 5-Year Campaign Strategy.
Click Here to download a PDF of the CampaignStrategy Draft.
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Workforce Workgroup 2007 Report |
In order to develop a vision and strategic plan for improved farm labor conditions in California, Roots of Change and The California Endowment funded a collaborative effort to obtain direct feedback from agricultural workers and growers to develop a vision for more sustainable farm labor conditions in California and to identify short- and long-term strategies for achieving that vision.
Five grassroots organizations with diverse and longstanding ties to the agricultural community - California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, California Institute for Rural Studies, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, the Farmworker Institute for Education and Leadership Development and Ag Innovations Network - convened a series of convenings including growers and agricultural workers in five of California's principal agricultural regions: Monterey, Yolo, Merced, Tulare and Ventura counties.
The following report presents a synthesis of the vision and strategies for promoting a more sustainable farm labor system in California, as put forth by the convening participants.
Workforce Action Plan
 Workforce Action Plan in Spanish
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The Vivid Picture Project Reports |
In November 2005, the Vivid Picture Project presented the ROC Council with The New Mainstream Food and Farming System: A Vivid Picture of California's Food System in 2030. This report outlines what a sustainable food system would look like in the next generation, and proposes ideas for achieving it. To read The New Mainstream please follow the link below.
The New Mainstream: A Sustainable Food Agenda for California
The New Mainstream report is a narrative overview of the entire work of The Vivid Picture Project. It is a distillation of information and ideas taken from the projects 22 white papers.
What follows is an annotated bibliography of all the VP research, along with links to the white papers.
The New Mainstream Supporting Research
1. Sustainable Food Systems: Working Towards a Fundamental Solution (8pg.)
Brief paper that uses systems thinking exercises to map (both graphically and in text) the links and loops diagramming: 1. Model illustrating the limits to growth of the current conventional food and Ag system in the USA. 2. Model illustrating the limits to growth of the current modern sustainable food and Ag industry in the USA. 3. Model illustrating the suggested intervention point (building broad alliances based on opportunity-based criteria to reinforce sustainability values) to create a shared strategic solution.
2. What Values Influence Stakeholder Perceptions of a Sustainable Food and Farming Industry for California? (28pg.)
Longer paper which explains methodology and findings of a series of interviews with key CA food system stakeholders that suggest a set of values for a sustainable food system for CA in 2030. These interviews are the foundation of the Vivid Picture values. Findings include detailed explanations of the VP's' five "core sustainability" values, and the six "bridge" values. Includes in-depth explanation of each value, including the subset (or node) values that fall under each of the eleven identified VP values as well as quotes from interviewees explaining/testifying the stated values. These values provide the framework for the rest of the VP work.
3. The California Food System in Numbers: A Fact Sheet (6pg.)
Fact sheets outlining (in numbers) various components of California's food system, including detailed current numbers about the states eaters, food outlets, institutions, manufacturing, wholesalers, and producers.
4. Current Issues and Trends Connected to the Vivid Picture Goals for a Sustainable Food System (40pg.)
This paper addresses each of the 22 Vivid Picture project goals for a sustainable food system. Each goal is followed by a section overview introducing some key facts and issues currently connected to the goal, and provides rationale for the selection of the goals while identifying some of the systemic barriers to their achievement. This article contains a huge amount of factual information about the current state of the CA food system, specifically about where and how it is currently falling short in light of the VP's goals towards sustainability.
5. Finding Food in California: Local Gains, Systemic Losses (8pg.)
This short paper sets the context for the next paper - Farm and Food Economy Profiles for Selected Regions of California. This paper is an economic and historical analysis that looks at past and present phases of prosperity and decline in CA farming systems in order to suggest sustainable alternatives. Focus is on farm and food economies of three diverse geographies: 1. The state of CA. 2. Ventura County 3. The Sacramento metropolitan area - including El Dorado, Placeer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties. Compares the net cash outflow from CA agriculture to CA's overall net food inflow to illustrate the current state of CA food system as import dependant. The paper illustrates some of the subsequent negative effects and losses as well as briefly suggesting relevant opportunities of creating a sustainable alternative system for CA.
6. Farm and Food Economy Profiles for Selected Regions of California (20pg)
This paper contains fact sheets that outline current economic information about the food and farming economies of: 1. The Sacramento metropolitan area. 2. Ventura county. 3. The entire state of California. Outlines economic trends around agricultural production costs, farm production losses/gains, labor and input expenses, cash receipts, farm subsidies, eater consumption, public sector and institutional food markets, and consumer markets. These numbers are repeated for each scale - local (Ventura Co.), regional (Sacramento area), and statewide (all of CA).
7. The Impact of Population Shifts on the Food System in California in 2030 (7pg)
This paper identifies factual information about eaters in the California food system today and what, given this information, can reasonably be assumed about California's eaters in 2030. It discusses the expected population shifts of the next twenty-five years and the subsequent impacts on food and farming parts of the states food system. Includes information on projected population demographics, food expenditures, health, food outlet choices, and consumer preferences for sustainable foods. Outlines opportunities in demographic change in CA that could be leveraged to build a sustainable food economy for the state over the next 25 years.
8. Estimating Spatially Explicit Population Distribution and Urban Area Expansion in California for the Year 2030 (14pg)
A technical paper evaluating three scenarios of California's potential population growth, distribution and urban area expansion: 1. A scenario given current trends in densities and urban area expansion 2. A smart growth scenario that encourages higher densities and preservation of specific land features such as riparian areas and wetlands 3. A smart growth scenario that focuses on higher densities coupled with an emphasis on protecting important farmland types. Outlines effects of each scenario on the landscape with an emphasis on effects of expanded urban footprints or greater urban densities on both the production and consumption components of California's future food system. Scenario development methodology is explained in depth. Scenarios are compared and contrasted in light of overall VP goals.
9. Agricultural Lands Available for Production in 2030 (9pg)
Using data from paper #8, Estimating Spatially Explicit Population Distribution and Urban Area Expansion in California for the Year 2030, this paper assesses the availability of agricultural lands in 2030 according to two different scenarios. 1. Business as Usual Scenario, amount of Ag land that would be available in the future in land development and current practices occur unabated. 2. A Vivid Picture Scenario, amount of Ag land that would be available in the future with smart growth policies limiting urban expansion throughout the state and that the conservation of important ecosystems and wildlife habitats takes place. Contains fact sheets for each scenario, explanation of methodology, and brief explanation of Vivid Picture scenario findings.
Useful tool for understanding CA's future land use, urban growth, smart growth, wildlife conservation, and water use.
10. Agro-ecological Zone Analysis and Evaluation of Correlated Crops in 2030 in California (15pg.)
This technical paper applies an agro-ecological zone (AEZ) analysis to California's landscape in order to develop a spatially specific (mapped) understanding of the state's zones of agricultural suitability and productivity. Employs statistical analyses of climate, topography, soils, and water to define AEZ types that provide information on geophysical factors, such as temperature and precipitation, upon food production. Results from this AEZ analysis can be used to develop future scenarios of eater and/or market demand and each zones production possibility in light of that demand. Results can also be used to assess the implications of shifts in any of the underlying geophysical factors, such as water or climate. The paper examines the possibility of one such scenario; it applies climate change research to the state's agricultural landscape and finds that under that scenario the quality of the state's farmland exhibits significant degradation.
11. Interactions of Food System Types in Localized Value Chains in California: Implications for a Sustainable Food System in 2030 (63pg.)
This paper provides a framework for evaluating the consequences of different scenarios for the entire CA food system. The paper describes the development of two scenarios: 1. A Business as Usual scenario, based on empirical data specific to food system types and calibrated to mimic the current day system. 2. A Vivid Picture scenario, which adjusts a discrete set of parameters based on the goals of the Vivid Picture project. The paper describes the scenario development process, methodology, and results, as well as its limitations. It does not describe the strategies that would facilitate the actualization of the scenarios developed. It attempts, through a series of specially specific analyses, to understand how eaters, food outlets, manufactures, distributors, and producers might be organized on the CA landscape in order to achieve the positive social, environmental, and economic impacts needed to achieve a sustainable food system for CA in 2030. Variations in scenarios are based on specific parameters that define value chain interactions within the food system. The paper explains the framework and methodology used to evaluate such complex relationships and discusses many of the findings resulting from different scenarios expressed through the arrangement of different food system types on the landscape. The paper is broken into several sections. The first goes over the background of value chains and why this research on value chains was conducted. The second section is a breakdown of methodology with particular attention paid to the definition of different food system types. The third section details some of the outcomes resulting form value chain analyses of the different scenarios. And the final section provides some examples of some of the food system types uses as analogs to define characteristics. This paper is in draft form and should be considered a working document.
12. Food Access in California Today (11pg.)
This paper provides a picture of food access in California today, in order to help set a course for universal food access for all California eaters by 2030. The study measures the distance, by roads, between eaters and full-service grocery stores to provide a measure of California eaters' access to fresh, nutritional food. The paper offers a discussion of all the first stage findings and describes the analysis used to create this picture of access. It pinpoints some of the current barriers to access, and suggests practical applications for the data as well as recommendations for action. Contains useful graphics breaking down current day access by both total population and urban population.
13. A New Architecture for the California Food System (7pg.)
This paper offers a vision of a new architecture for the CA food system from ROC Council and Business Advisory Group member Jim Cochran. The paper describes a new system, which would substantially increase the availability of high-quality, locally produced food through the creation of a new network of retailers and food service outlets sourcing from a broad array of small and mid-sized producers in an efficient manner.
14. Outlining a Change Agenda #1 (21pg.)
This paper presents a set of food system levers, strategies, and tactics based on feedback from 55 trade and public interest advisors, most of who were part of the larger on-going Vivid Picture project dialogue. The goal of the process was to tap into the ideas and experience of the VP's diverse trade and public policy advisors in order to begin to construct a Change Agenda that could move CA. towards the Vivid Picture vision by 2030. Of the 55 interviews, 24 were conducted with individuals who are executive managers or owners of farms, ranches, fisheries, and food businesses. 31 of the participants were public interest contributors. The paper outlines the results of this qualitative interview process to uncover opportunities-based market, policy, and communications strategies. The first section addresses the methodology used in the research process. The next two sections describe shared and divergent perspectives of the participants. The original interview tool is included as an appendix to the document.
15. Outlining a Change Agenda #2 (22pg.)
This paper presents a compilation of policy and economic development initiative ideas collected through interviews with 30 opinion leaders who are currently engaged in food system issues in CA. The qualitative interview process behind this paper included perspectives from the fields of agriculture, environment, nutrition, and labor. The interviewee list was designed to compliment the perspectives and areas of expertise of the food system leaders interviewed for outlining a Change Agenda #1. After a brief explanation of methodology, the paper outlines 8 major themes. Each theme is followed by some excerpts from interviews and then a more detailed list of possible action items. A summary outline of the ideas is included as Appendix B.
16. Proposed Indicators for Sustainable Food Systems (118pg.)
This paper covers the methodology and findings of the Vivid Picture project teams effort to develop a set of indicators for a sustainable food system for CA. An indicator can be described as, "a way to measure", or "something used to show the condition of the system". Indicator data are the actual quantitative measurements or observations that addresses the underlying intent of the indicators. This paper explains the methodology of the VP teams indicator selection process and then outlines the Vivid Picture goals and all of the identified indicators for each of those goals. Following that, the bulk of the paper provides detailed description of each of the recommended indicators including details on its trend data, source information, data particulars, and strengths and limitations. Each VP goal is listed and a narrative describing the selection process for the goal's indicators is provided.
17. Cooperatives, A California Analysis: An Old Structure for a New Economy (17 pg.)
This paper explores limits and opportunities of cooperatives in California's current economic arena. It begins with a description of the basic principals of cooperatives, moves through a brief synopsis of the obstacles impeding cooperatives such as RGA and Diamond Walnut Growers, and proposes business practices that may help cooperatives overcome organizational and market hurdles. It concludes with four case studies of businesses (three agricultural co-ops and one retail co-op), both in the mainstream commodity and niche industries which provide examples of healthy and prosperous businesses to model in moving the CA. food system towards sustainability.
18. Laying a Foundation for a Local Food System in California: A Survey of Policy and Legal Impacts (19 pg.)
This paper looks at current trends of corporate consolidation of the food and farming industry and some of the most substantial benefits of establishing local food systems in light of those trends. The paper then lays out the international, federal, state, and local laws and policies that may impede or promote efforts to establish such local food systems. Barriers stem from international trade law, federal ant-trust law, and state policies and laws, including laws governing states agricultural cooperatives, and local ordinances and initiatives. The paper then examines some government laws and programs as well as some private actions that serve as example components of a local food system. It concludes with local, statewide, and federal public policy and private sector recommendations for developing model local food systems.
19. An Assessment of Market Viability for Third-party Certification and Eco-label for California (26 pg.)
This paper explores the possible strategy of having a third-party certification system and eco-label that verifies and promotes good social and environmental practices in food production in California. The paper investigates the market viability and strategy for the introduction of a third-party certification system and eco-label by exploring: lessons learned from other eco-label/certification efforts around the world, different certification/labeling programs that are running in CA. or are expected to move here, potential institutional markets for a new third-party certification of food production, and the nexus between government policy and third-party certification programs. In considering a strategy and approach for the California market, the paper incorporates lessons from the experience of Food Alliance, a third party eco-labeling organization that is interested in entering the CA market.
20. Summary Input from the Roots of Change Fund Workforce Workgroup (7pg.)
This paper summarizes the ROC Workforce Workgroups recommendations regarding the creation of "meaningful livelihoods" for workers in California's food and farming industry. The paper contains three sections. 1. Identification of current problems for the food system workforce, with a focus on agricultural labor. 2. Investigation or possible root causes of the identified problems. 3. Suggested fundamental solutions to identified problems. Provides a simple and very clear explanation of problems facing CA. agricultural workers today, and suggested leaver points for facilitating fundamental change. Focus is entirely on agricultural labor.
21. Summary Input from the Roots of Change Fund Sustainable Food Business Leaders (6 pg.)
This paper summarizes the input from three meetings of a subgroup of the ROC Fund Sustainable Food Business Leaders workgroup. It outlines key issues that emerged regarding challenges and opportunities for moving the sustainable food industry from niche to mainstream. The topics covered include: retail models, distribution models, ownership models, new financial infrastructures, and attracting and retaining the best and brightest workforce. While this paper is not a comprehensive investigation of any of these topics, it contains important insights from private sector food leaders.
22. Marine Food Resources in the California Food System in 2030 (14 pg.)
This paper analyzes the state of California's current marine resources as a framework for understanding the limits and opportunities for marine fisheries to provide food for California's people in 2030. The paper is broken into three sections: 1. "Charting the Trends in California's Marine Resources", in which it presents the overall trends in marine resources production in CA over the last century. Focus is on trends in landings, ex-vessel values, number of fishing vessels, gear types, and fishing regulations. 2. "Scenarios: Marine Food Resources in 2030", explores the demand-side conditions that may exist in CA in 2030. 3. "Opportunities for Sustainable Production", discusses possible opportunities for providing sustainable sources of fish to California's people.
23. Overview of Processes and Tools Developed in Support of the Quantitative Analysis for the Vivid Picture Project (14 pg.)
As part of the Vivid Picture project, the Ecotrust team conducted a comprehensive quantitative analysis about current conditions and plausible future scenarios. The team developed a framework to support the plethora of analyses required, and constructed a set of tools to facilitate processing and analysis of data. This paper outlines the analytic framework and the individual analyses and supporting tools that function within the framework. Furthermore, the paper describes how the tools interact and identifies additional sources of information about individual analyses. The framework itself can be thought of as an expert system, where a series of different data, assumptions and applications interact to help the Ecotrust team quantify differences resulting from different scenarios. At the core of this analytical approach is the placement of value chains on the landscape.
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