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The North Coast Food System Network is an initiative to increase connectivity and collaboration between the North Coast region through investments into infrastructure and capacity building
The North Coast Food System Network will help fill gaps in critical food infrastructure, workforce development, and connection to resources of the North Coast region's agriculture and fishing industries. Using funding from CA Jobs First Catalyst Fund and Humboldt County Headwaters Fund, NCGA will coordinate this Network of community owned and operated businesses that will improve the access residents of our region have to locally grown, raised, and caught food.
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Our Projects and Partners
Studying the Feasibility of a Meat Processing Facility
After the closure and restructuring of Redwood Meat Company, regional ranchers have implemented expensive pivots to continue their operations. This includes traveling over 250 extra miles to processing facilities, which has lead to an increase of up to $6/lb for locally raised meats.
Resilience Nodes
Currently, the Harvest Hub has improved cold storage for locally grown and raised foods, but is located along the coast in Arcata while most farms are located in remote areas of the county. These nodes will provide accessible cold storage for farmers and buyers, like schools, in remote areas of the region. This will allow smaller farms to increase sales through the Harvest Hub. These nodes will also be able to be used during emergency and disaster situations to collect and store food for the community, and can e used by emergency feeding entities who operate shelters and feeding sites.
Humboldt Dockside Market and Microprocessing Needs
Local fishermen face numerous challenges to directly marketing their catch. Currently, the only way for fishing vessels to sell their catch directly to consumers is off their boats on Woodley Island. This poses several challenges:
Aquilli Metzli Masa Cooperative
Led by community members, this Indigenous and Latinx led cooperative is implementing milpa growing practices on farms throughout Humboldt County that cultivate culturally appropriate foods. A variety of maize is currently being trialed in different microclimates to track outputs, and will be processed by the cooperative for use by local artisan masa vendors including food trucks and torterillas, for direct sale to households who do not have access to high quality non GMO masa, and seeds will be saved for future cultivation.
Aquilli Metzli serves the community by:
Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council Resilience Center and Food Hub
Del Norte County and surrounding Tribal Lands currently have no central space for the aggregation of locally grown and raised foods, and current infrastructure that is available for emergency shelters and feeding operations is aging and unstable. The Resilience Center and Food Hub is an initiative that is led by the Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council, in partnership with Del Norte Office of Emergency Services, and will combine cold and dry storage, commercial kitchen space, offices and warehouse space that will be used to improve the storage, aggregation, and distribution of local food during "blue sky" times, and will be activated during emergencies to provide shelter, water, and food for the community.
Support for Tribal Food Sovereignty
NCGA works with local tribes to connect their communities to locally grown and raised foods. This initiative will build upon those relationships to discuss successes and challenges to implementing food sovereignty programs, provide connections to resources and funding opportunities, and assist with the creation of production and emergency feeding plans.
Redwood Region Ag Day
This partnership with the Humboldt County Farm Bureau will offer an annual conference for school aged children in Humboldt County. These events will connect students with where their food comes from and promote workforce development for agricultural jobs for future generations.
Micro-grants for Farmers and Ranchers
Historically, small farms and ranches have been left out of state and USDA funding for agriculture, due to lengthy and convoluted application processes and a lack of support to navigate those processes. This micro-grant program will trial NCGA issuing and tracking micro-grants for local farmers, who will be able to easily access a one time injection of funding to improve on-farm systems and infrastructure. This will help increase production capacity for the region and the resiliency of farm's businesses.
Studying the Feasibility of a Meat Processing Facility
After the closure and restructuring of Redwood Meat Company, regional ranchers have implemented expensive pivots to continue their operations. This includes traveling over 250 extra miles to processing facilities, which has lead to an increase of up to $6/lb for locally raised meats.
Resilience Nodes
Currently, the Harvest Hub has improved cold storage for locally grown and raised foods, but is located along the coast in Arcata while most farms are located in remote areas of the county. These nodes will provide accessible cold storage for farmers and buyers, like schools, in remote areas of the region. This will allow smaller farms to increase sales through the Harvest Hub. These nodes will also be able to be used during emergency and disaster situations to collect and store food for the community, and can e used by emergency feeding entities who operate shelters and feeding sites.
Humboldt Dockside Market and Microprocessing Needs
Local fishermen face numerous challenges to directly marketing their catch. Currently, the only way for fishing vessels to sell their catch directly to consumers is off their boats on Woodley Island. This poses several challenges:
- The docks aren’t ADA accessible, and ramps and walkways are steep and narrow, preventing community members with mobility limitations from accessing vessels.
- The harbor doesn’t offer equal opportunity to all fishing vessels; customers often park in the first parking lot when arriving on Woodley Island, so vessels with slips near that lot often see higher sales. Additionally, some docks do not have any parking lot nearby.
- There is no public transportation to Woodley Island.
- Unless they are already connected to communication channels from fishermen, visitors don’t know where to look when seafood is for sale.
- Distribution systems for waste aren’t easily accessible, so the burden is on the fishermen to properly dispose of fish waste.
Aquilli Metzli Masa Cooperative
Led by community members, this Indigenous and Latinx led cooperative is implementing milpa growing practices on farms throughout Humboldt County that cultivate culturally appropriate foods. A variety of maize is currently being trialed in different microclimates to track outputs, and will be processed by the cooperative for use by local artisan masa vendors including food trucks and torterillas, for direct sale to households who do not have access to high quality non GMO masa, and seeds will be saved for future cultivation.
Aquilli Metzli serves the community by:
- Creating processing space for traditional Milpa products to be made, including Masa, Tortillas, Salsa, and dried herbs
- Nurturing and protecting Pan-American Indigenous cultures and practices in Humboldt County.
- Facilitating access to land, markets, volunteer labor, and business development resources and tools.
- Creating pathways for American Indigenous people to enter into agricultural, art, and gastronomic industries
- Establishing networks of organizations, businesses, and groups working toward food sovereignty and solvency.
Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council Resilience Center and Food Hub
Del Norte County and surrounding Tribal Lands currently have no central space for the aggregation of locally grown and raised foods, and current infrastructure that is available for emergency shelters and feeding operations is aging and unstable. The Resilience Center and Food Hub is an initiative that is led by the Del Norte and Tribal Lands Community Food Council, in partnership with Del Norte Office of Emergency Services, and will combine cold and dry storage, commercial kitchen space, offices and warehouse space that will be used to improve the storage, aggregation, and distribution of local food during "blue sky" times, and will be activated during emergencies to provide shelter, water, and food for the community.
Support for Tribal Food Sovereignty
NCGA works with local tribes to connect their communities to locally grown and raised foods. This initiative will build upon those relationships to discuss successes and challenges to implementing food sovereignty programs, provide connections to resources and funding opportunities, and assist with the creation of production and emergency feeding plans.
Redwood Region Ag Day
This partnership with the Humboldt County Farm Bureau will offer an annual conference for school aged children in Humboldt County. These events will connect students with where their food comes from and promote workforce development for agricultural jobs for future generations.
Micro-grants for Farmers and Ranchers
Historically, small farms and ranches have been left out of state and USDA funding for agriculture, due to lengthy and convoluted application processes and a lack of support to navigate those processes. This micro-grant program will trial NCGA issuing and tracking micro-grants for local farmers, who will be able to easily access a one time injection of funding to improve on-farm systems and infrastructure. This will help increase production capacity for the region and the resiliency of farm's businesses.