A version of this blog post first appeared here on the San Diego Food Systems Alliance's 'News' blog on April 9th, 2016. By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director, SDFSA Member San Diego County has more small farms than any other county in the country, over 400 organic farms, and has the 12th largest farm [...]
By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director March has been an amazing month of milestones, memorable moments, and media coverage for farm-to-school in San Diego County! Simply put, we are on a roll! Rather than trying to tell the full story ourselves, included in this post is a quick synopsis of key events along with [...]
By Elizabeth Vaughan, CHIP Food Systems Coordinator What does that all too loving grandmother and CHIP Food Systems Department have in common? They both love setting people up! This month, in honor of Valentines Day, we are focusing this blog post on CHIP’s efforts to “set up” good food producers and institutional food buyers. CHIP [...]
By Elizabeth Vaughan and Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Team California hospitals are leading the way in making healthful, sustainable foods and beverages the norm in healthcare systems across the nation, and much of that work is happening in San Diego County. An important initiative that has served as a platform for collaboration to advance [...]
By Colin Cureton and Elizabeth Vaughan, CHIP Food Systems Team White canopies draped with burlap cloth, dozens of farmers standing by proud displays of produce, and people in sunhats smiling wide and admiring brightly colored fruits and vegetables; welcome to the third annual Let’s Go Local! Produce Showcase! This year’s Showcase, held on October 23, [...]
By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director Just over a week from today, dozens of San Diego County farms, produce distributors, sustainable businesses, and food systems advocates will all be showing up in a field in Encinitas, CA. Why would such an interesting (and busy!) group of people do such a thing? Well, because coming [...]
By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director The California Thursdays program of the Center for Ecoliteracy is changing the culture and practice of school food. This year, CHIP is partnering with Center for Ecoliteracy expand participation in the program by San Diego County schools districts. This Thursday and Friday (Oct. 8th and 9th) we have been honored [...]
By Elizabeth Vaughan, CHIP Food Systems Coordinator This is a story about the success of an up-and-coming Southern California farm in selling their fresh, local, and sustainable produce to schools, and CHIP’s efforts to get them on the path to success. CHIP has spent years working 1-on-1 with farms across Southern California to build the [...]
By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director This summer, CHIP’s food systems team reached out to hundreds of San Diego County farmers as part of its broader work to build the institutional market for healthy, fresh, local produce. The goal of this engagement was multi-faceted and included market research to create CHIP’s 2015 Crop Availability [...]
By Colin Cureton, CHIP Food Systems Director In July of 2015, CHIP facilitated farm-to-school visioning sessions at Vista Unified School District (VUSD) and Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD). The goal of these sessions was to invite stakeholders from across the district and community into the planning process and ask, "What do you want farm-to-school [...]
