Remember the news stories from early in the COVID pandemic? Millions of gallons of fresh milk dumped every day and tons of ripe vegetables plowed under or rotting, even as people waited in miles-long lines at food banks and grocery store shelves sat empty. This stark contrast of waste and shortage highlighted the vulnerabilities of our global food supply chains. On the heels of these disruptions, in February 2021, President Biden released an executive order calling for “resilient, diverse and secure supply chains”.

(Left) A pile of ripe squash sits in a field in Homestead, FL due to pandemic supply chain disruptions. Photo credit: Lynne Sladky/Associated Press, from The Guardian. (Right) Empty supoermarket meat shelves in Saugus, MA in March 2020. Photo credit: Joseph Prezioso/AFP, from Inside Climate News.

The food supply chain comprises all the processes by which food from a farm ends up on our tables: production, handling, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal. Human and natural resources come into play at every step, and when one part is affected, the whole supply chain is affected. As we have experienced since March 2020, supply chain disruptions like labor shortages, packing and processing plant closures, logistics and transportation delays, and pandemic-related restrictions on economic activity manifested as shortages and rising food costs.

In our last section, we explored solutions in Production processes. Here we look at another link in the chain: Distribution, and specifically, local food systems and procurement.

One solution to making our food systems more resilient against disruptions is to make them more local. Shorter, regional supply chains will never completely replace longer ones; therefore efforts to shift global supply chains for the better are highly needed. (For one example of how it’s done, look no further than corporate shareholder advocacy of Battery Powered grantee As You Sow.) But alongside them, regional supply chains can bolster food security, reduce food waste, boost regional economies, and lower carbon emissions. Local systems also offer less quantifiable but equally important benefits: a space for traditional foodways to flourish and for human relationships and a sense of purpose to thrive.

Local food production in the U.S. currently represents a small share of overall food production: just 3% of all agricultural sales in 2017. But that represents a 35% jump from just two years prior. So demand for local products is on the rise.

Still, major barriers remain. In a system designed to service large-scale producers, the majority of small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers do not have ready or affordable access to food storage, aggregation, processing, or distribution infrastructure  needed to move what they produce to the point of consumption. 

One result? Smaller farmers and ranchers struggle to compete with big players who are operating in a supply chain optimized for efficiency—sometimes at the expense of worker and animal welfare. Meat from independent producers, for example, can cost two to five times as much as meat produced by large meatpackers who have consolidated animals into factory farms and processing into large plants that use cheap labor and fast line speeds.

In California and beyond, there are opportunities for philanthropy to support the growth of robust local and regional food ecosystems. We can invest in small- and mid-sized farm and food infrastructure—infrastructure owned and controlled by producers and especially communities of color—and support partners across the supply chain to work together cooperatively. Some parts of this ecosystem lend themselves more to private investment: marketing, supply, and services cooperatives, for example. But there is an abundance of nonprofit work to support in areas like:

Ecosystem building. Weaving together resources, relationships, and strategies to overcome institutional challenges. Kitchen Table Advisors, for example, coordinates values-aligned partners to operate across regional value chains, while past Battery Powered finalist Mandela Partners partners with residents, local farmers, and food entrepreneurs to distribute food and create community wealth in West Oakland. Intermediary Growing the Table, helps community organizations source and distribute free fresh produce from BIPOC farms to local food insecure communities

Business advising. Business-management skills are a pain point for many smaller farmers and ranchers. Organizations like Kitchen Table Advisors provide free, personalized advising to help build business infrastructure.

Civil Eats TV profiles 2016 Battery Powered grantee Urban Tilth, an urban agriculture organization in Richmond. Executive Director Doria Robinson was recently appointed to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture—the first Black woman and urban ag farmer appointed to the CDFA.

CSAs (community supported agriculture). CSAs are a way to buy fresh, local food directly from a farmer. Some CSA programs, like past Powered grantee Urban Tilth, work in urban areas where food deserts are prevalent, and pair their CSA program with other strategies to support community health, education, and economic self-reliance.

Food Hubs. Food hubs typically offer a combination of distribution and marketing services to connect farmers and ranchers to institutional buyers (like grocery stores and restaurants) as well as directly to end consumers. Some are physical spaces, others exist virtually, but all are concerned with helping small farmers gain entry into markets that would be difficult or impossible to access on their own. 

Advocacy. Along with the U.S. Farm Bill, state and local policies shape “who has the opportunity to farm, the markets that farmers rely on, and the health of the ecosystems farmers work with.” Organizations like Community Alliance with Family Farmers and networks like California Food & Farming Network are prominent voices in Sacramento for sustainable, equitable food systems. Newer initiatives like People’s Food & Farm Project center the voices and build political power of workers and BIPOC communities as they campaign for public funding mechanisms and regional government entities for food.

One big reason why we saw milk dumped and vegetables left to rot in the early days of the pandemic was that major purchasers of these products, like schools and universities, shut their doors. It was a stark illustration of how fluctuations in the demand side of food supply chains can cause disruptions. It was also an indicator of the latent power of purchasing—or procurement—to influence supply chains.

The nation’s schools, universities, hospitals, prisons, and other public institutions across the U.S. spent upwards of $120 billion on food in 2016, while the federal government spends tens of billions each year. Most of these dollars are governed by procurement policies that support the status quo food system. 

Food and beverage companies are also massively scaled purchasers of agricultural products. Some companies— Danone, General Mills, and Kellogg among them—have begun establishing commitments and pilots to shift procurement practices towards products grown in regenerative ways, but there is so much more potential for companies and brands to de-risk the transition to a more sustainable food system by guaranteeing a market for regenerative producers. 

Influencing procurement decisions can be an immense lever for change in the movement for food systems transformation. Philanthropy can support:

Advocacy efforts focused on advancing values-driven food procurement in areas like school food procurement, as well as policies and practices that affect multiple federal agencies: for example, establishing a new framework for true cost accounting in food procurement rather than defaulting to the “lowest responsible bidder” model. On the corporate side, shareholder advocacy is one tool to encourage companies to shift procurement policies and practices.

Technical assistance: helping institutions and larger systems understand, develop, implement and monitor more holistic food standards. Past grantee Center for Good Food Purchasing, for example, supports large institutions to direct their buying power towards core values of better nutrition, environmental sustainability, local economies, animal welfare, and workers’ health and rights, while grantee Eat REAL works specifically with school districts to improve sustainability practices and offer healthier food to students.