Interactive food system plan now live on San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild website

||| FROM CAITLIN LECK for FOOD SYSTEM TEAM OF SAN JUAN COUNTY |||

The Food System Team of San Juan County, in partnership with the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild and local data scientist, Adam Martin, is excited to announce the launch of an interactive online version of the Food System Plan for San Juan County. For residents and food system workers, this new tool will make it easier to explore and navigate the shared goals of the plan, and to find contact information and ways to get involved in local food system work. For food and agriculture organizations, the tool lays out connections across the food system and clarifies opportunities for collaboration.

The Food System Plan was developed as a roadmap for our community, using a network approach to implementation. It grew out of several years of research and community engagement with farmers, ranchers, fishers, Coast Salish Tribal members, food businesses, grocers, community organizations, agencies, and residents. The result is a Plan with five goals: scale up local food production, steward land and enhance ecosystems, ensure access to healthy food, reduce and transform waste, and grow community connections. The 91 strategies within these goals strengthen the resilience and equity of our local food system, many aligning with work already being done by local organizations and County departments.

Over the past seven years, the Food System Team has coordinated the Community Food Assessment, developed the Food System Plan, and clarified the tools needed to help move the Plan into implementation. The Team is wrapping up the projects it was formed and funded to accomplish and will soon formally conclude its work. 

However, the work continues, and progress is made every day within the many local organizations. Practical ways to build connective capacity include opportunities to review progress at recurring annual events, the formation of smaller priority teams that coalesce around timely projects, and this new interactive version of the Plan.

The Food System Team wishes to express deep appreciation to all those who have made this project possible: Terra Soma, LLC for absolutely instrumental pro bono services; the generous funders of this significant undertaking; USDA’s Regional Food System Partnerships grant program; San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild for serving as fiscal sponsor; Northwest Agriculture Business Center for technical and administrative support; and the hundreds of people who engaged with our process and care so deeply about the San Juan Islands’ food system.