In San Mateo County, SAGE led research and stakeholder engagement to develop a vision to support a strong and resilient food and farm system. This project, recently concluded, was contracted by the County of San Mateo Health System and was produced in close collaboration with the San Mateo County Food System Alliance.
San Mateo County spans remote coastal and mountain communities and a dense metropolitan corridor. It has the lowest percent of food secure residents of any county in the state, still, 11% of the population is food insecure. At the same time demand for locally grown food is increasing, land in agricultural production is dwindling, and there are few opportunities to make a living working in farming and ranching. These somewhat conflicting issues inspired County leaders to ask how food and agricultural systems can work together as part of the infrastructure of a healthy, thriving, and connected county.
“The San Mateo County Food and Farm Bill developed by SAGE has provided San Mateo County with a roadmap for creating a just, equitable and connected food system for our residents,” said Justin Watkins, Community health Planner for San Mateo County Healthy Systems. “SAGE’s knowledge and expertise in the area of food systems is unmatched. They were great partners that were able to bring together a diverse group stakeholders from across multiple sectors to complete the project. If the opportunity arises in the future we would gladly work with Sibella and her team again.”
