Center for Food & Justice

Farm to Institution Distribution Programs

Farm to Institution Distribution Mission:

The Center for Food & Justice (CFJ) works to promote a sustainable and socially just food system by improving access to fresh and healthy foods in all communities, particularly those where access is most limited. CFJ aims to achieve social equity through food distribution by working with multiple constituencies, from farmers to retailers to distribution companies to build their capacity to deliver good food to all communities.

Increasingly, the conventional food system is failing both consumers and food producers. In our efforts to develop a food-secure Los Angeles and support healthy farm economies across Southern California, CFJ has critically examined the systems by which food is produced and distributed. CFJ is designing new systems of food distribution to increase access to local foods in low-income communities and support local farm communities.

The mission of the CFJ’s  Southern California local food distribution work is to develop a greater variety of consistent, verifiable and robust models of procuring and distributing locally grown foods to schools, institutions, and communities in need. CFJ believes that to increase the adoption of farm to institution and other local food access programs, local foods must be accessible through mainstream marketing channels. Therefore, CFJ’s distribution priority for Southern California is to utilize groundbreaking strategies to develop the distribution capacity of farmers, private industry and other community-based organizations to strengthen our regional food system.

Through five models of distribution, CFJ bridges the urban and rural divide to create stronger programs that serve all communities equally.

Click in the icons below for a summary of the five models of distribution that CFJ is working to develop and implement.  

 

 

To participate in or for more information about these projects please contact:
 

Vanessa Zajfen
 vzajfen@oxy.edu
 323 341 5092

Sharon Cech
cech@oxy.edu
323 341 5091