Overview
Led by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), this project focuses on enhancing resilience across the middle of the food supply chain by supporting local and regional producers with an emphasis on small and underserved businesses. The initiative seeks to expand capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, and distribution of locally and regionally produced food products, build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, and fair wages, and to create new and safe job opportunities. By creating more and better market opportunities and new streams of revenue for small and mid-sized agricultural producers, this program will also result in thriving local communities, strengthen food security, and promote fair economic opportunities. Roots of Change (ROC), Fresh Approach, and infrastructure financing experts have partnered to develop a map and dashboard of California’s existing and needed infrastructure, technical assistance providers, and financing options in the food system. To include your organization on the map and tell us your infrastructure needs, please fill out this survey.
Important Links & Dates
Project Survey
EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE SURVEY (8 minutes)
This survey will collect information about middle of the supply chain processing, aggregation, and distribution. This survey is intended for producers and middle of the supply chain facility operators. Information on existing infrastructure and needed infrastructure shared will be included on the map.
Project Meetings
This project is currently in the data collection phase for infrastructure mapping. To provide information and be part of the conversation in collecting information on existing, planned, and needed infrastructure, please register for one of the listening sessions below. Though sessions are open to all, the listed region will be the area of focus during the meeting, so we encourage people to attend the meeting that best matches their location/insights. Translation services available upon request. More meetings coming soon. To request a meeting in your area, please email [email protected].
Past meetings 2026:
- April 16 – San Diego (in-person)
- April 30 – Arcata (in-person)
- May 19 – Chico (in-person)
- June 4 – Fresno (in-person)
Past meetings 2025:
- April 17 – Project Launch Meeting, 2–3:30pm PDT (virtual)
- Meeting recording (Password to access recording: tAkw4#RJ)
- Meeting slides
- May 7 – Sacramento (in-person)
- May 20 – Ukiah (in-person)
- May 27 – Ukiah
- May 29 – Riverside (in-person)
- May 30 – Los Angeles (in-person)
- June 2 – San Luis Obispo (in-person)
- June 4 – Riverside
- June 5 – Los Angeles
- June 10 – Fresno/Clovis (in-person)
- June 12 – San Luis Obispo
- June 12 – Northern California
- June 17 – Fresno
- June 17 – Central California
- July 7 – Southern California
- July 8 – Chico
Project Goals and Deliverables
- Outreach with regions throughout California to identify existing, planned, and needed food infrastructure that serves small and mid-size producers.
- Develop an understanding of and map opportunities for connections that would strengthen the supply chain to serve more communities.
- Develop and publish a report that will guide public agencies, nonprofits, community-based initiatives, and private companies involved in supply chain resilience efforts, featuring a vision for how the California agri-food system would look by 2040 to best address food supply chain needs.
Community Engagement
This project actively involves community members, organizations, and stakeholders across California to ensure that its outcomes address local needs and priorities. Participants will contribute insights about their food systems and supply chain challenges, engage in collaborative workshops, and provide feedback on draft recommendations. These inputs will inform strategic infrastructure investments and policy directions that support equitable and sustainable food systems. We will be hosting a series of in-person meetings and web-based workshops to receive iterative feedback from stakeholders throughout this process.
Participating in Stakeholder Engagement
The project will collect data through a series of listening sessions, workshops, and feedback events. Stipends will be provided for regional representative participation.
- Six listening sessions (three in-person and three virtual) to understand community perspectives.
- Four web workshops to share resources on grants, technical assistance, and business planning with communities.
- Six follow-up feedback sessions (three in-person and three virtual) on the drafted report and analyses.
By fostering collaboration among stakeholders, the project will analyze the information provided to develop a long-term vision for California’s agricultural future and lay the groundwork for future infrastructure funding.
Link to fact sheet. For more information about this project, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].