About Us
The San Diego Food System Alliance is a diverse community of leaders in San Diego County—farmers, fishermen, food business owners, workers, organizers, policymakers, funders, and residents—committed to building a food system that works for everyone.
Together, we are working toward the goals and objectives in San Diego County Food Vision 2030, collectively outlined by our community.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create a just and resilient food system in San Diego County.
Our Vision
We envision vibrant community food systems rooted in justice and sustainability, where everyone has equitable opportunity to produce, distribute, prepare, serve, and eat nutritional and culturally appropriate food.
In our vision, producers and food workers are treated fairly, sustainable and regenerative practices are prioritized, people are engaged, communities are empowered, and farms, fisheries, and food businesses are thriving and contributing to local economies.
We dream of a world where we live in harmony with each other and nature, where we honor our sacred relations, and where we fully embody love.
Our Approach
Community is at the heart of our approach to transforming our food system. Local communities, especially those most impacted by inequities in the food system, hold infinite wisdom to imagine, create, lead, and nurture solutions that work for all.
We believe that we can create a more just food system by bringing diverse communities together, deepening relationships, building collective power and governance, mobilizing resources, and uplifting powerful stories that shine a light on all the ways that local communities are leading the way forward. Our holistic, community-led, and heart-centered approach to food system transformation integrates Community & Coalition Building, Community Wealth Building, and Community Storytelling.
Community & Coalition Building
We believe in the power of community and collective action. We nurture relationships, seed connections, build coalitions, advocate for policy changes, and cultivate intergenerational leadership.
Community Wealth Building
We honor community self determination and ownership. We support cooperative local food economies, mobilize resources for equitable business stewardship, land tenure, and capital, and work to build greater community power.
Community Storytelling
We imagine a food system that works for everyone. We share the stories of community changemakers, documenting their transformative work and relations and crafting narratives that uplift joy, healing, and liberation.
Our Work
The Alliance’s work directly supports small-scale farmers, fishermen, food business owners, and communities impacted by inequities in the food system.
We support their livelihoods, guide our region’s long-term outlook, and bring sectors together to collaborate for a more just, resilient food system.
Our Work →
Our Culture
Food sovereignty is at the heart of our work.
We believe that everyone has a right to healthy, culturally appropriate, and ecologically produced food and agency to define their own food and agriculture environments. At the Alliance, we honor and uphold a culture that actively works to eliminate inequities, dismantle racism, and elevate food sovereignty. Our only path toward healing ourselves and our food system is through a deep commitment to social, environmental, and economic justice for all.
We advocate for self determination*, free from all forms of oppression, systemic or otherwise. We center and uplift those who are most impacted by structural inequities, and actively work for the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement of those who have been marginalized. We believe there is strength in our collective lived experiences, and power in celebrating our differences while recognizing our interdependence. The health and well being of one is intimately bound to the health and well being of all.
Most importantly, we acknowledge that we cannot achieve justice without racial justice, and that achieving equity requires dismantling racism and repairing the centuries of harm inflicted on Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
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Oppression and exploitation have deep roots in our country, beginning with the genocide of Indigenous people and further with the enslavement of Black people. This legacy, along with centuries of discriminatory policies, has been institutionalized in all aspects of our society and continues to marginalize Black, Indigenous, and people of color, creating significant health disparities, continued exploitation of labor, and barriers to opportunity and ownership. Systemic racism is deeply pervasive and visible across all indicators of success and wellness.
In the food system, healthy food access, food and farm labor, and land and business ownership are all divided along racial lines. Communities of color experience the highest rates of poverty, food insecurity, and diet-related illness. Latinx comprise the majority of farmworkers, receiving extraordinarily low wages, having few labor protections, and working under heavily compromised conditions on a regular basis. And people of color experience significant disparities in farm, business, and land ownership, dramatically limiting opportunities for power and leadership.
We choose to lead with race and focus on achieving racial justice to ensure that the needs and experiences of people of color are prioritized. Race intersects with and amplifies all other forms of oppression; centering race provides us with an opportunity and platform to address other forms of oppression and elevate justice for all. Ultimately, we must transform all aspects of our society to ensure that all people and communities experience liberation.
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Our vision for racial justice in the food system embodies the concept of food sovereignty:
Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies.
In our vision, Black, Indigenous, and people of color lead efforts to imagine and plan for their food system. Their stories, traditions, and knowledge are centered and are heard. They reclaim their health, land, and power.
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Everyone has dignified access to opportunities for health and well-being.
Race no longer determines one’s well-being. Opportunities are designed to meet the needs of all people to achieve optimal wellness.
Historical injustices are recognized and rectified.
Black, Indigenous, and people of color are respected and valued. Past experiences of oppression and theft are corrected and race-conscious policies are in place.
Everyone has dignified access to opportunities for health and well-being.
Resources and wealth are distributed equitably.
Power is shared. Change is led by communities. All people have a pathway to positions of leadership, especially people of color.
Interdependence of people and their environment is realized.
The world is seen as something that is shared. People coexist with cooperative responsibility for the risks and benefits associated with a fair and just food system.
We recognize that cultivating justice for all is both a process and outcome. It requires practice, patience, and a deep commitment. We are committed to approaching this work with sincerity, humility, and compassion.
*Self-determination refers to each person's ability to have control over their choices and lives, and plays an important role in health and well-being.
Our Impact
What our Alliance achieved in 2025 shows that our region is ready to invest in a shift toward a more just, resilient food system. We’re so grateful to our San Diego County community for seeding deep roots for a food system that belongs to all.
Read our Year in Review →
Our People
Staff
Board of Directors
Stewardship Committee
Our Stewardship Committee is a coalition of community leaders actively working to transform our food system. They govern collectively, co-design our Programs and Initiatives, and move policy priorities forward. They are at the heart of the Alliance and our work.