Mission.
Growing the Table helps select farmers and ranchers achieve economic viability and sustainability through profitable market alternatives, and to increase access to food aid for the food-insecure by creating distribution sites that are open to all people in need. Growing the Table is a triple entendre. The program aims to achieve outcomes in the following three ways:
1) Increase the amount of harvest that is saved from waste during the interruption of normal demand channels during and after COVID-19.
2) Expand participation to smaller farms and ranches owned or operated by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), women, LGBTQ+ people, and/or organic or regenerative practitioners, thereby shifting the food supply chain permanently in favor of racial, gender and environmental justice.
3) Increase the food delivery or pick up sites so that more people seeking food aid can access it than is possible with food bank distribution alone.
Vision.
Diverse farmers deserve to be at the heart of feeding the millions of food insecure Californians during the current pandemic and beyond. These farmers understand many of the dynamics embedded in racial, gender, and economic inequality that drive hunger and reduce market access in the first place. Growing the Table envisions a world where underrepresented farms and ranches owned by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), women, and LGBTQ+, as well as regenerative and organic farms thrive, have access to a wide array of customers, and are economically resilient.
These farms and ranches will have prolific distribution of their crops hosted at food banks, school districts, community-based organizations, reactivated restaurants, and other trusted institutions that serve their communities. These growers will be compensated fairly for their available crops and will be a bridge to the new food economy during and after the pandemic.
A note from founder Kat Taylor
When I started TomKat Ranch with my husband, Tom Steyer, I didn’t realize that given my passion for regenerative agriculture and our food system as a whole, a more racially equitable and resilient food system could be revealed as fit for purpose in the midst of a pandemic, an economic shutdown, and our crucible civil rights moment.
We already knew our food system was broken, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues of food insecurity and food waste. Hunger, always racialized, has suddenly exploded on the streets and quietly within millions of homes. Simultaneously, farmers and ranchers struggle to stay afloat in the midst of extensive disruption to their food supply chain. My passion for agriculture has survived this test and is stronger than ever, but I fear our food system may not unless we take steps to make it significantly more regenerative.
With one foot in expanding regenerative agriculture and the other in public advocacy, I’ve been challenged by Governor Newsom and First Partner Siebel Newsom to raise an additional $15 million for California’s Farm to Family program. Through our Harvest Fund, we are also working on “Growing the Table” by supporting economically-challenged BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), women, regenerative, or organic farmers and ranchers who can help feed food-insecure Californians during these tough times.
I’m humbled by the dozens of growers, nonprofits, partnerships, and government leaders across California who are already working tirelessly in their communities to build an inclusive food system, bolstering existing partnerships and standing up new ones. By adding capacity to these existing farm-to-family networks throughout California, the Growing the Table initiative will feed more of those most in need, minimize food waste, and increase the opportunities for black, brown and female farmers, especially those practicing organic or regenerative methods, making our food system more equitable and resilient.
I hope we will be brave together, because I truly believe that motivated by this crisis, we can empower diverse producers to feed millions of Californians.
In community,
Partners
Growing the Table is a partnership cultivated by the Office of Kat Taylor.
