Farm-to-Fork LIVE Event Series: Women on the Line
Sometimes I love my job. I always appreciate the work we do, but, let’s face it, some moments are more rewarding than others.
Women on the Line, Valley Vision’s second Farm to Fork Live event, was one of those very rewarding moments. On February 1st at the Milagro Centre in Fair Oaks, three women chefs and business owners, each in a different place in her career, had a candid conversation with an audience of about 75 people about what it is like to be a woman in the culinary world. The raw emotion and power in the room was palpable.
N’Gina Guyton, owner of South Restaurant; Bobbin Mulvaney, owner of Mulvaney’s B&L; and Casey Shideler, Executive Chef at Taylor’s Kitchen participated in this moving and informative panel that touched on a variety of topics regarding the challenges of being a woman in the culinary industry. Local TV personality Bethany Crouch facilitated this deeply personal, very “real” dialogue, leading the conversation through topics ranging from starting a business and a career in a male-dominated field, to gaining acceptance and recognition as a professional, to sexual assault and battles with mental health.*
This no-holds-barred conversation was filled with powerful anecdotal stories both shocking and humbling. N’Gina recounted being told motherhood, rather than expanding her successful food business, should be her focus. A bank loan officer inquired, “But who will be home to take care of your kids?” as he was denying her a loan. Bobbin reminisced about her struggles establishing her career while not only raising a young daughter and balancing her passion for business but in the face of several bouts with breast cancer. Casey recounted her complicated start and rise in the culinary world including facing gender stereotyping such as when an interviewer asked her marital status, and then followed up with, “So is it safe to say you’re married to your job?”
Audience members sat nodding their heads, signaling that the types of experiences being shared happen across sectors.
But there was also hope and advice for women entering the field. Although panelists toiled to get by – from Bobbin, who spent years helping pay a mortgage from a box-lunch catering business to N’Gina, cooking on an electric stove in a closet to cater an event, and Casey, who found her way to an executive chef position after years of pushing through the ranks – women entering the field were told to be courageous, do whatever it takes, and not give up. More experienced women were told to encourage them.
“Being a good mentor is more the just telling mentees what we know,” said Bobbin Mulvaney, who mentors both high school culinary arts programs and culinary arts workforce training programs for formerly homeless women. “We need to support them where they are and be available to help our sisters when they ask for what they need when they need it.”
Having had the opportunity to be on both sides of the equation – having both received mentorship from some amazing women as well as having opportunities to provide mentorship to younger women – I appreciated Bobbin’s point about letting people grow at their own pace. As well, in this time of such incredible division in our society, it was moving and encouraging that each of these women was willing to share their experiences and hope so openly and freely. Thank you to each of them and to everyone who participated in the conversation.
*For more information about the work being led by the Mulvaneys and others to help address mental health issues among restaurant workers, Click Here. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Robyn Krock is a Valley Vision Project Leader managing food, agriculture, and broadband initiatives.
Project Associate Emma Koefoed also contributed to this blog post.
New Farm-to-Fork LIVE Event Series Kicks Off (Plus Paella)
You think getting your kids to eat what you cook them is difficult? Try feeding 45,000 kids every day!
That’s what Diana Flores, Nutrition Services Director for Sacramento City Unified School District, and her staff face every school day of the year – the largest restaurant you can imagine with the pickiest clientele. With construction of the district’s new central kitchen underway, nutrition services staff will soon have the equipment and space needed to feed those kids more food grown right here in our region – America’s Farm to Fork Capital.
Last week audience members learned this and more at the kickoff event of Farm to Fork Live!, a new event series developed by Valley Vision, that will focus on different aspects of the food and agriculture economy and culture. “We want to address, not just the “why” of our region being ‘America’s Farm to Fork Capital’, but the “how” as well. How are our food and ag leaders showing that We Are Farm to Fork? How is our region leading the way?” said Bill Mueller, CEO of Valley Vision.
The first event, held last Thursday at UC Davis Health’s MIND Institute, focused on our Home Grown Economy – how institutional food purchasers can support the local economy by purchasing from local growers. In addition to SCUSD, UC Davis Health Executive Chef Santana Diaz explained how he is creating a locally-sourced food services program in the health center’s cafeterias and for their patient care program. Patients, staff, and visitors will be getting high-quality, healthy food while supporting the local economy.
While making the connection between food purchasers and local growers might seem like a no-brainer, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Growers don’t always have the quantity or exact product a chef or purchaser might need, and buyers have to have a purchasing system that allows them to work with multiple sources rather than one large food distributor. Aquaculturist (“fish farmer”) Michael Passmore of Passmore Ranch and rice farmer Michael Bosworth of Rue & Forsman talked about how working with Chef Santana and other institutional buyers has benefited their operations. They explained the paths they each took to get to that point, while Chef Santana talked about how to make a local-purchasing system work.
When large-scale food purchasers buy from local farmers and ranchers, more of our local dollars stay in the region, which lifts the whole economy. Additionally, fresher, often healthier food reaches people who might otherwise not have access to it. That’s what Ms. Flores faces, as over 70% of the SCUSD students come from low-income households. Ms. Flores explained that when she can purchase from local growers, she also saves money. This is important, especially since the Nutrition Services program is completely self-funded – they get no financial support from the district’s general fund. So, the $3.33 she has per student per meal doesn’t just pay for food, it pays for staff, equipment, transportation, and all of the other expenses that go into feeding that many people at 80 different sites.
The program closed with the unveiling of the new Farm to Fork Live brand developed by Honey Agency, who also developed the We Are Farm to Fork civic pride logo and Visit Sacramento’s America’s Farm to Fork Capital logo. The new Farm to Fork Live logo mixes the excitement of eating healthy food with the beautiful patchwork created by agricultural fields across our region.
The informative, engaging conversation was led by local TV personality Bethany Crouch. We look forward to continuing to work with Bethany through the rest of the series. Following the program, participants were treated to a reception that included Chef Santana’s paella, sourced from local ingredients including fish from Passmore Ranch and rice and Rue & Forsman. This was paired with sangria and an arugula and quinoa salad.
Valley Vision will continue the Farm to Fork Live series with events in December, February, and March!
Robyn Krock was a Valley Vision Project Leader managing food, agriculture, and broadband initiatives.
Community to Embrace Farm-to-fork Pride
Sacramento, Calif. – Restaurants, auto shops, and hair salons. Software engineers, yoga instructors, and baristas. These are just a few of the people and places that the Farm-to-Fork Steering Committee includes in its new “We Are Farm-to-Fork” campaign, designed to encourage inclusivity and community pride around the region’s farm-to-fork identity.
In 2015, Visit Sacramento formed the Farm-to-Fork Steering Committee to provide expert guidance in shaping its America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital program. Now led by the non-profit Valley Vision, the committee is comprised of chefs, farmers, restaurateurs, suppliers and representatives from grocery, government, non-profits and more. Together, the group has established connections between many of the organizations in the greater Sacramento region that are working in the farm-to-fork space. The committee also continues to look for ways to expand the reach of farm-to-fork across the region and beyond Visit Sacramento’s special events and marketing efforts. The idea behind “We Are Farm-to-Fork” was born out of the growing enthusiasm around the farm-to-fork concept from people and organizations outside of related industries.
“The Sacramento region has been farm-to-fork since long before the America’s Farm to Fork Capital initiative,” said Valley Vision Chief Executive Bill Mueller. “This is the region’s heritage, and everyone here is a part of it, from farmers and farmworkers in our rural communities, to mechanics, bank tellers, small businesses, and workers in our urban core. We are Farm-to-Fork shows our pride in that heritage.”
“Over the last six years, we’ve seen interest in farm-to-fork go well beyond local restaurants,” said Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa. “From trade associations to accounting firms, people are looking to be a part of the farm-to-fork effort. But the truth is, they were always a part of what has been building here. This new campaign highlights the fact that if you’re a part of our community, you’re a part of farm-to-fork.”
Part of the “We Are Farm-to-Fork” campaign rollout includes a corresponding logo designed by The Honey Agency. The members have committed to utilizing the logo within their own organizations and are excited to share it with others throughout the region.
“As Sacramentans, we are all proud of our region’s strong agricultural heritage,” said Chelsea Minor, Raley’s Corporate Director, Consumer & Public Affairs. “We are Farm-to-Fork is intended to be a badge of honor for all businesses to embrace throughout our six-county region to show our commitment to being America’s Farm to Fork Capital.”
Rural Broadband a Top Priority for Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue
On Wednesday, April 18, the 2018 Cap-to-Cap Food & Ag policy team had the opportunity to meet with Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. The meeting, secured through the leadership and persistence of Linda Budge, mayor of the City of Rancho Cordova, was held Wednesday morning at U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters, located in the historic Agriculture South Building in Washington, D.C. Mayor Budge and Secretary Perdue are former high school classmates, having attending high school together in Georgia, Purdue from a local farming family and Budge from a military family. The two have remained in contact over the years.
The Food & Ag team was there to talk about several policy priorities for the greater Sacramento region including rural broadband, forest management, conservation, and expanding support for and access to healthy foods for the hidden hungry, including college students and working families.
On the issue of rural broadband, Secretary Purdue noted that the lack of “e-Connectivity” is the top issue he hears about wherever he visits, most recently Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Purdue believes “e-Connectivity is the number one issue holding the [U.S.] ag industry back.” In fact, after meeting with our team, the Secretary was launching the first of a series of national listening sessions on improving e-connectivity in rural America, along with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai and a coalition of industry leaders. (The Food & Ag team held a meeting with the Chairman’s office earlier in the week on the same topic).
Relaying to Purdue the challenges from a California perspective were third generation Clarksburg farmers, David and Phil Ogilvie. David shared his personal story of his ability to apply modern farming techniques to drive efficiencies in water use on several of his fields through sensors and remote irrigation management with an iPhone app. Due to lack of broadband access, he isn’t able to deploy the technology on all of his fields. His farm in Clarksburg is located is a community less than a fifteen-minute drive from the California State Capitol. Unfortunately, lack of broadband access in rural areas of California is not an issue unique to Clarksburg. In fact, as a whole, the region has relatively poor grades for broadband infrastructure.
The world views California as leader in technology and innovation. However, we are not leading in terms broadband speed and access. Many rural residents are disconnected from the many benefits of e-connectivity, including opportunities for distance learning, expanding global markets for small businesses, connecting to information on employment and job applications, and accessing telemedicine for improved health.
Fortunately, there is growing awareness of the importance of broadband as a critical utility for 21st Century competitiveness. As affirmed by Secretary Perdue, it’s time to build a 21st Century Highway of Connectivity. We can look to models from the past that have expanded utilities such as electricity and telephone service to all for ideas. Solving the problem will require creative partnerships between federal, state, local government and private partners.
The Connected Capital Broadband Consortium is working with partners and stakeholder across the region to elevate the importance of this issue and to help fill our broadband infrastructure gaps. Together, we can envision the future-ready e-connectivity infrastructure we need for regional prosperity and competitiveness. Let’s work together collectively tackle the challenge!
Tammy Cronin was a Valley Vision Project Leader working in the 21st Century Workforce and Healthy Communities strategies.
International Delegation Will be Looking for Trade, Research, Partners
By Mark Anderson – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal
An international delegation for entrepreneurship and innovation will tour Northern California this fall, ending with a week-long tour of Davis and Sacramento to study advanced food and agricultural business ecosystems.
The tour will also focus on innovation, science and research, said Trish Kelly, managing director of the local research and advocacy group Valley Vision. “This is food and ag in a big sense.”
This is the first time the Americas Competitiveness Exchange has visited Northern California. The 50 members of its tour group will include government ministers, academics and entrepreneurs looking to forge trade, business ties and research partnerships, she said.
“These events are very focused on outcomes. They want to make connections,” Kelly said.
The tour group will include members from Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, as well as Germany and Israel.
The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, which is based in Davis, is a primary sponsor of the tour, along with Valley Vision.
Some of the highlights of the local tour will be the University of California Davis, the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Sciences and Golden 1 Center, as well as some local food companies, beverage purveyors and briefings on local food systems, Kelly said.
Read full article on the Sacramento Business Journal website.
Harvesting Opportunity Through Local Food System Investments
Valley Vision, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and USDA Rural Development hosted over 125 people on January 30th, 2018 for a forum on the economic power associated with investing in regional food systems.
Harvesting Opportunity: The Power of Regional Food System Investments to Transform Communities, was published in 2017 as a partnership between the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The book illustrates regional food systems as a tool for community and economic development; offers unique financing models and case studies of financial investments that are supporting today’s smaller food-related businesses and entrepreneurs; and profiles successful collaborations among the financial sector, government, philanthropy, academic, and others.
Valley Vision board member Shawn Harrison of Soil Born Farms opened the meeting, followed by a welcome to Sacramento and Council District 3 from Sacramento City Councilmember (and beekeeper) Jeff Harris, and comments from Yolo County Supervisor and food access champion Don Saylor, who also introduced keynote speaker Kim Dolbow Vann, the new California Director for USDA Rural Development. Director Vann spoke about the need for increased broadband in rural communities, her office’s ability to facilitate communications and partnerships, and getting food processing and manufacturing “back to where the farming is.” She emphasized that our region has “transportation on our side” with easy access to rail, ports, and multiple freeways.
The event was followed by a reception opened by Assemblymembers Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) and Cecilia Aguilar-Curry (D-Winters) who spoke as champions for rural communities including the importance of agriculture to our state and regional economies, economic development, and bridging the digital divide.
Expert panelists focused on topics addressed in the publication including:
- Innovative strategies and financing for the next generation of farmers and entrepreneurs
- Turning the risk-return model of investing into a three-pronged approach that includes social impact
- Addressing social equity in the food system through investments
Panelists included (listed alphabetically):
- Anthony Chang, Kitchen Table Advisors
- Catherine Howard, Northern California Community Loan Fund
- Reggie Knox, CA FarmLink
- Ami Naik, Radicle Impact
- Allison Paap, American Ag Credit
- Olivia Rebanal, Capital Impact Partners
- Meredith Storton, RSF Social Finance
Shawn Harrison and Managing Director Trish Kelly moderated the panels.
Topics addressed in questions from the audience included the need for transparency in the investment community, how CDFIs and other investors make decisions to match lending tools with specific projects, and further conversation about the need for social equity in food system investments.
Valley Vision will continue to work with our funding partners, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs to create real opportunities for people on the ground. As stated by Leilani Barnett of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in closing out the event, there are some very real projects that come out of these important discussions, and we will continue to elevate them.
Robyn Krock is a Project Leader managing Valley Vision’s food and agriculture portfolio.
Visit Sacramento & Valley Vision Announce New Farm-to-Fork Partnership
Organizations will work in tandem to promote and grow the region’s food and agricultural efforts
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Visit Sacramento announced today that it will partner with regional leadership organization Valley Vision to enhance the Sacramento region’s America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital identity.
Visit Sacramento took on the development of a program around farm-to-fork after the region was declared America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital in 2012. Since that time, the destination marketing organization has led the effort to grow farm-to-fork into a year-round national identity that has been embraced throughout the greater Sacramento area. Over the last five years, Visit Sacramento has shared the region’s farm-to-fork story with tour operators, visitors and travel media across the country, while helping to guide local programs and endeavors that bring farm-to-fork to life for the community.
“When we set out to make a year-round initiative around farm-to-fork, we never would have believed how far the concept would have come in just five years,” said Visit Sacramento President and CEO Mike Testa. “As we moved into our fifth year, we were looking for a strategic partner that could help us take farm-to-fork to the next level. The partnership with Valley Vision will allow Visit Sacramento to concentrate on our strength areas of sales and marketing, while Valley Vision simultaneously continues the growth of the program in other areas.”
In its new role, Valley Vision will work to extend the reach and impact of farm-to-fork, with the organization taking over Visit Sacramento’s farm-to-fork committees and expanding the network of partners, continuing research work around regional food and agriculture, and helping to facilitate solutions to related issues. Visit Sacramento will continue to lead marketing for the region’s farm-to-fork identity, along with hosting the annual Legends of Wine event, Farm-to-Fork Festival and Tower Bridge Dinner in September. Proceeds from the Tower Bridge Dinner will also continue to be used to fund initiatives such as the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services’ fresh produce drive and the Visit Sacramento CAMP scholarship at Sacramento State.
“We are excited to lift up all the people, the data, and the inspirational stories that make us the nation’s farm-to-fork capital,” said Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller. “By drawing on Valley Vision’s two decades of work supporting the growth of the food and agriculture sector – from close ties with local farmers, restaurateurs and food access organizations to statewide associations and our ties to federal agencies, Valley Vision can bring additional breadth and depth to this initiative.”
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About Visit Sacramento
Visit Sacramento is a non-profit, destination marketing organization funded by the City of Sacramento, the County of Sacramento a local hotel self-assessment and business membership throughout the greater Sacramento region. As the premier economic development and services organization for the region’s convention and tourism industry, Visit Sacramento develops and executes sales, marketing and customer service programs to help strengthen the regional economy, as well as the bottom lines of our member businesses and marketing partners. Brands operating under the Visit Sacramento umbrella include America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento Sports Commission (Sac Sports), Sacramento365 (a joint partnership with Convention & Cultural Services and the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission), Sacramento Film Commission (Film Sacramento) and Sac Event Crew.
About Valley Vision
Valley Vision has inspired change for a better, more livable future across California’s capital region for more than two decades. Using our expertise in research and collaborative strategies, along with our expert knowledge of the region’s food and agriculture sector that we’ve built over two decades, Valley Vision has long been committed to growing the many assets found in our local food economy. We work on a variety of food system initiatives and are known as a regional leader in food, agriculture and related health systems. Valley Vision led the creation of the Sacramento Region Food System Action Plan, the region’s roadmap for advancing the food system, and we are the regional lead for the federal designation of the Central Valley as a manufacturing community, AgPlus Food and Beverage Manufacturing Consortium. Our initiatives focus on pioneering innovations to make food and ag sustainable, healthy, productive and accessible, from strengthening our agricultural heritage to expanding our food processing and manufacturing sector to helping increase markets for local goods.
Touring the Region’s Food and Ag Ecosystem
August kicked off with a focus on many aspects of our region’s food and ag systems, including a site visit from Bryan Zulko, our USDA Rural Development federal representative for the Central Valley AgPlus Food and Beverage Manufacturing Consortium. The visit was a follow up to the Metro Chamber’s May Cap-to-Cap trip, where the Food and Ag Committee connected with our federal agency partners as well as congressional delegation to advance our regional food economy. Valley Vision hosted Bryan for a week-long tour showcasing some of the region’s diverse assets, with opportunities to discuss some of our key challenges and brainstorm strategies and approaches given the still evolving changes in Washington, and taste some of our delicious farm-to-fork bounty.
Site visit highlights included: a special meeting of the Chamber’s Food and Ag Committee to discuss our policy priorities, especially pervasive rural broadband gaps and workforce needs, and upcoming topics for the 2018 Farm Bill; a meeting with Woodland city leaders and tour of Boundary Bend Olive Oil company; a visit with Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in Winters to discuss broadband and food hub development topics; a tour of the Delta hosted by Muddy Boot Wine’s David Ogilvie, Food and Ag Committee Co-Chair, which included a visit to Greene and Hemly in Courtland where packing of the pear harvest was underway; a meeting of the several nonprofit partners at Leataata Floyd School, future site of the Food Literacy Center’s learning center, including the Food Literacy Center, the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, River City Food Bank, Alchemist CDC (which has a USDA grant for a food business incubator feasibility study), and Sacramento City Unified School District; and a tour of the future site of the Food Factory incubator in downtown Sacramento.
The Week culminated with the Metro Chamber’s annual State of Agriculture event – Crushing It: How the Wine Industry is Influencing Agriculture. Four hundred regional food and ag supporters had the opportunity to network along “Winery Row,” sampling wines from 15 local wineries and meeting winemakers, then hearing about the important impact of the wine industry on the regional economy from wine industry leaders.
As noted by Congresswoman Doris Matsui, “A little less than five years ago, our region planted a flag in the ground and proclaimed ourselves the Farm-to-Fork Capital of America. While it was an acknowledgement of what we already knew, Sacramento is the heart of the breadbasket for the world, the designation recognized that we should play to our strengths and be proud of our heritage. The greater Sacramento region has over 200 wineries and that is something to celebrate. In our 21st century economy the intersection of agriculture and technology continues to be pivotal and I want Sacramento to embrace its agricultural heritage as a way to tap into this economic boom.”
Keynote speaker John Aguirre, President of the California Winegrape Growers Association, and a stellar panel discussed some of the major trends and challenges the industry is facing as it seeks to maintain a competitive edge in both California and the Capital region. Click here for a video by KVIE!
We closed the week with a continuing appreciation for the incredible people and places that make our region a center of ongoing collaboration, innovation and support for all aspects of our regional food system. Thanks to Bryan, we have new resources and connections for our mission and look forward to seeing him on Cap to Cap 2018!
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Trish Kelly is Managing Director of Valley Vision, leading the food system, workforce, and broadband portfolios.