Is waste wasted? Or is our thinking too limited? Everyday California farmers produce byproducts of the food we eat that must be disposed of one way or the other. But are we throwing away money? What if we could transform waste into profit and at the same time deliver substantial environmental benefits? There is an […]
Every community must answer the question, “how will we feed ourselves?” The way we answer this defines and describes us. Four years ago, the Sonoma County Healthy & Sustainable Food Action Plan (FAP) was issued as a call to action to answer this and many other food and farming related questions. The Plan was the […]
“The Healthy & Sustainable Food Action Plan can lead us to our final destination – a society where each of us has a place at a bountiful table, where we protect the natural world, and where true prosperity is created by those who grow and prepare our food.” – Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations It’s been […]
I have been working as an organizational development and facilitation consultant on climate adaptation in Sonoma County since 2009, when the Laguna Foundation selected climate adaptation as its main focus at their annual conference. From that conference was born the North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative (NBCAI), a coalition of natural resource managers, policymakers, and scientists working […]
As California endures its fourth straight year of severe drought, anxiety about our water supply intensifies. The members of the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) – a forum for dialogue among agricultural, environmental, and governmental leaders—ask our fellow Californians to adopt a fresh perspective. Media coverage about the current California drought has been extensive. Unfortunately, […]
We are elated to announce the addition of three highly respected leaders in the field of natural resource management to the Ag Innovations Board of Directors. Joining the Board are climate scientist Juliet Christian-Smith, PhD from the Union of Concerned Scientists, retired USEPA water expert Jovita Pajarillo, and natural resources management consultant Mark Rentz. Juliet Christian-Smith, PhD […]
I recently had the pleasure of facilitating one of my favorite kinds of meetings – a kick-off for a new collective action project. The topic was habitat conservation for monarch butterflies and pollinators in the state of Missouri and the mission was to bring key players together to co-create a first-ever collaborative statewide conservation strategy. These […]
In California’s multiple responses to the drought, there is one key initiative that remains relatively unknown: the California Water Action Plan (Plan).1,2 The Plan calls for coordinated action to address the dynamic and interconnected challenges faced by the state’s water system. Thus far, our ability to resolve these challenges has not kept pace with the increase […]
Ag Innovations is pleased to announce that Lucy Norris has joined our team as our Regional Food Systems Program Director. In this role, Lucy leads Ag Innovations’ efforts to identify and develop creative solutions that assure the long-term viability of local food systems in California and around the country. She will identify project opportunities related to food systems, assess their feasibility, […]
Welcome to the new Ag Innovations! Formerly known as Ag Innovations Network, we’ve dropped the Network to put Innovation at the forefront of our name and public face. With fifteen years of experience focusing on the singular purpose of building a better food system through collaboration, our new and improved website repackages this history via an easier navigation that allows […]
