Welcome to Ag Innovations Network
Ag Innovations Network brings people together to build a food system that works for all. We are facilitators of crucial conversations, conveners of meetings that matter, and enablers of change.
Our role is unique. We care deeply about creating a more economically viable, socially just, and environmentally sound way to grow and distribute food. We believe the best way to accomplish that goal is to create opportunities for individuals, farmers, businesses, and communities to better understand the changes that are needed and discover solutions that make sense. Our work is about bringing more democracy to decision-making about the future of food and farming.
We have three central programs:
- The Alliance Project: A growing network of California county-based alliances of food system stakeholders that meet monthly to work together to strengthen farms, improve access to good foods, and improve the infrastructure to support regional food distribution. These groups make policy recommendations and create local projects.
- The Roundtable Project: We convene and facilitate two California-based coalitions of statewide agriculture, environmental, and community organizations that are focused on finding shared policy solutions for the food system. The California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment focuses on issues that are of common concern to agriculture and environmental organizations including Farm Bill reform, climate change, land use, and food safety. The California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply focuses on the critical challenge of water use and availability for farms, cities, and the environment.
- Facilitation/Consulting Services: We offer facilitation and consulting services globally for organizations and government entities that are seeking to engage stakeholders, run more effective conferences, and understand the challenges facing the food system. Our core competency is cutting-edge facilitation and meeting design.
Thanks for visiting us. We hope you find our work and our site of benefit.
The Latest From the Field
News from our Alliances
Ventura County Ag Summit, Feb. 17
The Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance presents the 2012 Agricultural Summit, Making Connections: How the Local Food Movement Can Support Ventura County Agriculture.
Read More »Alliance Network Featured in Canadian Report
Nov. 2011 AIN’s Food System Alliance Network was featured in Towards a Regional Food System Alliance: Development Strategy for the West Kootenay.
Read More »Sonoma Featured in Photo Essay
Nov. 2011 Local photographer, Karen Preuss, worked with us to create a beautiful photo essay documenting the Sonoma County Food System.
Read More »News from our Roundtables
Ag Water Resource Center
Dec. 2011 On December 8, 2011, CRWFS launched a new and expanded online Agricultural Water Stewardship Resource Center.
Read More »Cultivating Civility - A New Approach to Old Water Wars
July 2011 This op-ed by Roundtable member, Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith of Pacific Institute, describes the power of consensus-building bodies like the California Roundtables.
Read More »CRWFS Releases Ag Water Stewardship Recommendations
June 2011 On June 22, the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply released a set of recommendations to shift thinking and spur appropriate action to balance the water needs of both farms and aquatic ecosystems.
Read More »News and Events
Position Announcement
Jan. 2012. Ag Innovations Network (AIN) is now hiring a full-time Project Coordinator to join the AIN staff team and oversee projects.
Ag Water Stewardship Resource Center Launches
Dec. 2011. On December 8, 2011, the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply launched a new and expanded online Agricultural Water Stewardship Resource Center to assist growers and ranchers, water suppliers, and others in making effective farm water management decisions.
Grist Covers Ag Innovations Network and the James Beard Food Conference
Oct. 2011. Thanks to Kerry Trueman of Grist for her coverage of the recent James Beard Foundation Food Conference facilitated by Ag Innovations Network’s president, Joseph McIntyre. Her article is a good read.
Joseph McIntyre featured on Taste Matters, Heritage Radio in NYC
Oct. 2011. On October 12, AIN President Joseph McIntyre joined a conversation about How Money And Media Influence The Way America Eats on Taste Matters, a Brooklyn-based Heritage Radio Network. Taste Matters is hosted by Mitchell Davis, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation, cookbook author, restaurant reviewer, and food scholar. The show was recorded live at Roberta’s in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Listen to the show online.
New Report on Organic Farming
Sept. 2011. The Santa Cruz-based Organic Farming Research Foundation announced the country’s first comprehensive, data-driven report on the social, economic and environmental benefits of organic farming on Sept. 19. Entitled Organic Farming for Health and Prosperity, the document backs anecdotal findings up with a review of the American scientific literature concerning organic farming in the United States.