Local Food Coalition mission: "Working together to support local farmers, preserve local farms and farmland, and ensure a local food supply in the western Nevada County area."

The Local Food Coalition is not an organization per se. Instead it is an informal network of agricultural organizations and agencies, farmers and ranchers, community non-profits, businesses, and individuals. The purpose is to facilitate communication and collaboration among all the sectors of our community that care about local agriculture and local food production.

The means of communication are an e-mail list and a website, plus meetings and personal communication. A core group of dedicated volunteers handles the coordinating and administrative functions.

The Local Food Coalition emerged from the first Come Home To Eat event in March 2006 (see History of the Local Food Movement in western Nevada County for more details).

Here are some of the agencies and organizations actively communicating and collaborating, in addition to approximately 75 local farms and ranches:

Agricultural and Resource agencies:

• Agricultural Advisory Commission (AAC)
• Agricultural Commissioner
• UCCE Farm Advisor
• Nevada County Resource Conservation District (NCRCD)

Agriculture/food/land related organizations:

• Nevada County Grown
• Nevada County Farm Bureau
• Northern Sierra Winery Association
• Biodynamic Farming Association
• Foothill Fibers Guild
• Master Gardeners
• Nevada County Beekeepers Association
• Nevada County Growers' Markets
• Nevada City Saturday Farmers' Market
• Mill Street (Grass Valley) Thursday Night Farmers' Market
• Nevada County Land Trust
• Westin A. Price Foundation, Gold Country Chapter
• Slow Food of Nevada County
• Sierra Permaculture Guild
• Live Healthy Nevada County Food & Nutrition Action Committee
• BriarPatch Co-op Community Market

Other Community non-profits:

• Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy (APPLE)
• Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute (SNDEI)
• Think Local First

LFC Roles and Functions as of January 2009:

1) Supporting Existing Projects and Initiatives:

• Come Home To Eat 2009 or other community event
• Nevada County Grown first year of operations:
  -soliciting community at large members
  -marketing conference Feb 28
  -Farm Guide distribution
• LHNC Food & Nutrition Action Committee (school lunches/ farm to school connection)
• Agricultural Advisory Commission issues (land use, development, etc)
• Other on-going initiatives
• New initiatives arising from NC Community Congress or other places

2) Outreach and Education to larger community:

• Public speaking
• Tabling (festivals, events, Fair, etc)
• Website:
  -Technical
  -Content
  -General inquiries/contact point for new people

3) E-mail Communication within coalition:

• Listserv moderating
  -Listserv posting policies
• Listserv maintenance

4) LFC Meetings:

• Setting agendas/planning meeting content
• Facilitating meetings
• Connecting with new folks
• Meeting publicity (signs, radio, other listservs, etc)

The volunteers that handle the coordinating and administrative functions:
LFC 2009 steering committee: Rita de Quercus (coordinator), Kathy Laible, Rachel Plevin, , Randi Pratini, Sam Raymond, Thea Blair, Shan Kendall, Steve Reynolds

E-mail list moderating and maintenance: Kathy Laible, Rita de Quercus, Randi Pratini
Website: Sam Raymond (tech) and Kathy Laible (content)

History of the Local Food Movement in western Nevada County 2005-2008

(one activist's perspective)

There were a number of forces that converged in the summer and fall of 2005. There were folks doing activism around issues like genetic engineering (Food Democracy Alliance), and realizing that genetic engineering is just a symptom of a globalized food system controlled by large corporations. There were other activists concerned about peak oil (APPLE - Alliance for a Post Petroleum Local Economy) and seeing the implications of that for food security. There were folks like the university cooperative extension farm advisor (Roger Ingram), who had seen farmers struggling for years to make ends meet; folks like the marketing director of the local food co-op (Stephanie Mandel-Austin, Briar Patch Coop) who had already been connecting with local farmers to get their produce and wanted to be able to get more; folks on the Ag Advisory Commission (Rich Johansen et al) seeing the ever-increasing encroachment of development on farmland; folks in the county Farm Bureau who were battling burdensome regulations. In summary, there were many local farmers and ranchers frustrated and disheartened by the multiple challenges facing them, and many ordinary citizens concerned about what's happening to the planet. They were all beginning to realize that the real solution to these problems is to return to a locally based food system.

The Food Democracy Alliance and APPLE decided to organize an educational event in March 2006 that would bring together all the diverse elements of the local ag community as well as the diverse elements of the larger community, to talk about our local ag situation. This event was called Come Home To Eat. It brought out 300 people at 9 am on a cold rainy March Saturday, to listen to local farmers and ranchers for 3 hours "telling it like it is." They got a standing ovation at the end. Farmers and ranchers were blown away by the outpouring of community support. The public got a lot more savvy about the needs of ag. Then everyone enjoyed a bountiful lunch of mostly locally-grown foods, followed by schmoozing and entertainment. It was an unprecedented event in the history of the community.

The key event organizers realized that creating the event would be a coalition building exercise, bringing together folks who had not previously been connected. And they intended that the momentum from the event would be such that the coalition would continue on after the event, as it did. The Local Food Coalition was born, an informal network of organizations, farmers, ranchers, activists, and businesses "working together to support local farmers, preserve local farms and farmland, and ensure a local food supply in the western Nevada County area." The first projects of the coalition in the spring and summer of 2006 were to establish a website (www.localfoodcoalition.org), set up a communication e-mail list, and publish the first Nevada County Farm Guide. The coalition met monthly at various local farms, continually drawing in new folks to the burgeoning movement. It was done entirely on volunteer energy.

In March 2007 the second Come Home To Eat event was held, attracting even more participants. This evening event was a celebratory and community building event, called a Farmer's Honorary Banquet and Ball. Approximately 75 volunteers worked on the event. It was a sumptuous sit-down banquet dinner made from locally grown foods and wine, followed by awards for every farmer and rancher in attendance, and concluding with contra dancing. Again, it was a huge success, and generated a lot of momentum.

We began addressing issues at the county level, like the impacts of development on farmland. The first ever joint meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Commission and the Planning Commission took place in July 2007, and subsequent work has resulted in a much better relationship with the county planning staff, and a set of recommendations about how to better protect farmland. A greatly expanded Farm Guide was published in 2007. All the local CSA farms were fully subscribed, and more were being planned. Also, in late 2007 a plan was launched to create a marketing organization called Nevada County Grown (NCG). In early 2008 we received a $10,000 grant from the county to assist with the start-up phase during 2008. NCG will take over the publication of the annual Farm Guide, maintain a website (www.nevadacountygrown.org), and engage in other marketing efforts on behalf of local farmers and ranchers.

The third Come Home To Eat event was held in June 2008 at a local farm with over 350 people in attendance. After a great local food dinner, the program honored the 20 young people who are interns on local farms this year, and got everyone to participate in an exercise to get folks better acquainted with the farmers and ranchers who were there. And once again, the evening ended with lively contra dancing.

The local food movement in our area now has a life of its own. Demand for locally grown food is increasing and farmers are increasing production. A new farmers' market began in downtown Nevada City on Saturday mornings (this is in addition to the already existing 6 local farmers' markets around the county). One CSA farm began delivering to subscribers up in Truckee. And much more....

Written by Rita de Quercus
Co-coordinator, Local Food Coalition
Start up coordinator, Nevada County Grown
September 2008