Model and Strategy
Growing the Table (GTT) helps farmers and ranchers achieve economic viability through profitable market alternatives and increases access to food aid for the food insecure by creating distribution sites that are accessible to more people in need. TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation and the Office of Kat Taylor launched GTT during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past two years, GTT has paid small, regenerative, and organic practicing, mostly BIPOC farmers, for their produce and supported its distribution for free to hungry California families, especially in communities near those producers, to reconnect regional food systems.
At the conclusion of this temporary emergency program, many of GTT’s participating farmers, food hubs, distribution partners, and food recipients saw the mutual benefit of staying connected going forward. By banding together, these groups could increase bargaining power, access centralized services, and advocate effectively for policy change that can secure equity for both food producers and consumers. In short, they could create a positive network effect.
The Agricultural Platform Cooperative opportunity, a collective economic model, is to create the fertile resourced space for a network effect of food system actors to grow up and transcend the industrial ag model. This state-wide member-owned and governed network of food system stakeholders would have common interests and incentives to work for regenerative farm viability, healthy food access, strong regional supply chains, and food sovereignty. This platform would assist cohorts of regional farmers by providing training and resources to meet institutional food purchasers’ standards, increasing their ability to supply diversified end markets, expand business technical capabilities, and share bargaining power; all through a web-based platform. The network effect would also sustain coalition strength for policy reform and political advocacy.
GTT is hoping to help build an Agricultural Platform Cooperative as a pilot with key GTT partners. The intent would be to grow the cooperative into a state-wide project that demonstrates proof of concept for the viability of a healthier, more-equitable alternative provisioning system, including but not limited to emergency farm support and food aid as was needed during and before the pandemic.
Impact
Since 2020, GTT has executed 22 food sourcing and distribution food aid programs across 25 counties in California, working with 452 small farms to address hunger across the state and bridge those particular producers into the post-COVID food economy in larger numbers and with more resiliency. GTT built relationships with mostly BIPOC-led food hubs, distribution networks, and growers through its food programming. Through its food aid programming, these organizations were able to source from and assist socially-disadvantaged farmers.
During the pandemic, GTT’s efforts filled the gap for small farmers that government crisis relief efforts often could not. Outcomes included market-rate payments to farmers that totaled nearly $2.5 million and 101,884 food boxes packed with farm-fresh, culturally relevant, organic produce. 77,320 meals were prepared and distributed to victims of two California fires. Collectively, GTT worked with 155 food hubs, aggregators, and distribution partners who formed effective regional networks.
Collectively, an Agricultural Platform Cooperative built on top of these previous efforts has the potential to identify, connect, and support small California producers in various regions across the state. An agricultural platform cooperative would measure its impact in terms of meaningful network connections and the involvement of new partners, as well as other metrics like sales opportunities.
The goal would be to promote sustainability, adoption of regenerative practices, marketing, and business technical assistance, and food safety. By facilitating a series of strategic network connections among these agricultural actors that support socially disadvantaged farmers, a platform cooperative could yield compounded benefits for these historically marginalized groups.
Leadership
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Kat Taylor
Founder
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Nanyelis Diaz Chapman
Program Manager