Food Strategy 2.0

RI FOOD SYSTEM PLANNING FOR 2030

Planning is underway! State government, non-profit and industry stakeholders have relied on Relish Rhody to assess what has been accomplished in the last five years and to develop a roadmap for the next phase of collective impact setting goals out to 2030, a process we are calling "RI Food Systems Planning for 2030."

The Director of Food Strategy in partnership with leaders from RI Commerce, RI Department of Environmental Management, RI Department of Health and the Narragansett Tribe along with community partners are leading the effort to renew and reimagine our state food strategy by engaging with food system stakeholders across the supply chain to better understand: where have we made progress since the 2017 publication of Relish Rhody Food Strategy was released, where have we fallen short, where are the areas for greatest opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable and equitable food system for all Rhode Islander and more!

Learn more about the partnership leading this effort here.

Get RI Food Systems Planning Updates

Strategic Planning Phases & Planned Activities

Planning process taking place January 2023 through December 2024

Phase 0: Process Development & Fundraising - COMPLETE

Establish Steering Committee
Develop Workplan and budget
Secure funding and hire consultants

Accomplished Objectives:

Northbound Ventures was selected through a competitive bid process to provide Strategic Planning consulting and services throughout process.

Phase 1: Initial Outreach & Early Stakeholder Engagement - IN PROGRESS

Establish Advisory Board
Complete "Five Year Impact Report on Relish Rhody 1.0" (2017)
Develop 25-30 topics for food system "issues briefs" to inform strategic goals

Accomplished Objectives:

The 5 Year Retrospective takes inventory of what has been accomplished since 2017, when Relish Rhody was published, where challenges in Rhode Island's food system remains, and provides guidance on priorities for the next phase of planning toward a 2030 food vision for Rhode Island.

Now subject matter experts are developing 24 food systems briefs that cover cross-cutting subjects, issues facing the food system, and market channels for local food. Brief authors write and co-create these 2-4 page papers with expert contributors, elevating the lived and learned experiences from the Narragansett Tribe, historically marginalized communities, and institutions within Rhode Island.

See the full list of briefs and authors below.

Phase 2: Research & Development of 2.0 Food Strategy

Draft strategies from the issue briefs
Hold public strategy session
Draft food system plan
Public comment period

This summer 2024 we will be holding a strategic planning session for the public to shape the priorities and strategies of the 2030 plan. Stay tuned and sign up for the newsletter to get word of this strategic planning session. Once the plan is drafted and reviewed by the advisory board, the public is welcome to weigh-in by attending our food strategy forums across the state in the public comment period.

Phase 3: Public Launch, Outreach & Implementation

Launch and widely distribute RI Food System Plan for 2030 (final name TBD)

With community partners, state agencies and food producers co-creating strategies and priority actions to the year 2030, the implementation phase of the State's strategic plan will have key metrics and accountable entities to ensure change and transformation in the Rhode Island food system.

AB kick off

Advisory Board Kick-off at Southside Community Land Trust

Brief Onboarding

Brief Co-authors Onboarding

Briefs Currently Under Development

Brief #	Brief Title	Brief Context	Type	Category	Co-Authors
#1	Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability	More frequent and severe weather events (e.g. 2022 flooding/drought) and ecosystem disruptions (e.g. warming Narragansett bay, lantern fly, etc) are posing a threat to the ability of RI food producers to grow and harvest food and the areas where the majority of the food we eat is grown (90%+) comes from outside the region, mostly from climate risk areas like California and the midwest. Concurrently, new research tells us that the food system (Crippa, 2021) contributes 25 - 35% of total greenhouse gas emissions when looking at the full food supply chain from production to processing, distribution and disposal. This brief should explore the dual conditions of the food system's contributions to climate change as well as its impacts on the food supply including land and water resiliency. It should aim to understand the big picture on connections between food and climate as it relates to Rhode Island and should consider parallel state efforts such as the Act on Climate and state renewable energy goals in the context of Rhode Island's food and farm economy (e.g. conflicts with solar and agriculture or offshore wind and fisheries) as well as food businesses viability in the face of constant climate disruptions. This brief will aim to understand, at a high level, the various threats/risks and opportunities to address them. Solutions (like climate smart ag/soil health) can solve both, while other solutions like food waste reduction are about mitigation not adaptation. This brief should also consider other environmental issues related to the food system such as pollinator heath, pesticide runoff and soil biodiversity. It will also elevate the deep knowledge of the Indigenous Narragansett people, who have been stewarding the land and waters here for thousands of years (Source: Narragansett Indian Tribe “Early History”: https://narragansettindiannation.org/history/early/).	Cross-cutting	Intersectional	Dinalyn Spears Priscilla De La Cruz
#2	Policy & Regulations	State, municipal and federal policies, regulations and legislation all impact how our food system operates, who it benefits and who it harms. This brief will provide an overall understanding of legislation and regulations - including zoning - that can impact the food system in Rhode Island and provide details on the most pressing issues facing the food system. This brief will help inform all of the briefs by explaining the jurisdiction of local, state, Tribal and federal agencies, as well as regulations and legislation that impact the food system whether that be red tape, outdated regulations or tax codes that impacts our food system. The focus will be on state-level policy, legislation and regulations that can better support a sustainable, equitable and vibrant food system in RI as well as policy that affects the Tribe. This brief will also explore the different regulatory issues at varying ends of the spectrum that impact the development of small enterprises versus the sustainability of larger food businesses	Cross-cutting	Intersectional	Max De Faria Dinalyn Spears Vanessa Garcia Polanco
#3	Equity, Food Justice & Community Well-Being	A sustainable food system demands that we address systemic racial, economic and health disparities that persist across the food supply chain. This brief will provide an understanding of food justice issues facing Rhode Island's food system looking at disparities among historically disadvantaged and marginalized communities within workforce, labor, health/nutrition, access to land, and economic mobility, including the needs of communities of color and the sovreign nation of the Narragansett Indian Tribe.	Cross-cutting	Intersectional	Nwando Ofokansiz Wanda Hopkins Julius Kolawole Raffini
#4	Economic Development	The Rhode Island food economy makes up almost 20% of the State's GDP and employs some 60,000 people. It is a significant part of the state's economic output and workforce. This brief should provide an understanding of the entire food economy and its sub-sectors as well as how economic development within the food system can support sustainable growth and economic mobility and opportunities for Rhode Islanders. This brief should also explain the how food economy is benefiting some much more than others, and is frequently reliant on extracting value from the environment and from specific populations to thrive.	Cross-cutting	Intersectional	Shayna Cohen & Clare Bramhall (Consultants) Dawn Spears Kavya Gopinath
#5	Stewardship of Food Producing Lands	Rhode Island farmland is some of the most expensive in the country making it challenging to purchase, lease and pass on to future generations of farmers. Urban and suburban development continues to compete with agricultural areas and make access to land for food producers unattainable. Additionally, agricultural soils and waterways need to be protected to continue producing safe and culturally appropriate food and sustenance for future generations. This brief will identify current agricultural land conservation programs and identify challenges to protecting farmland, cultural and Traditional plantings, and hunting and gathering lands for food production. Working lands should be defined as land used for edible crops such as produce, animal products, honey, maple syrup and orchards) as well as wildlands for cultivation of wild crops and animals. This brief should examine current land-use management and land access issues, challenges to land ownerships and leasing as well as opportunities for more sustainable management of working lands. The focus of this brief should be on issues facing the resource base of land.	Issue	Source Production	Shayna Cohen & Clare Bramhall (Consultants) Frank Salustri Dawn Spears
#6	Stewardship of Working Waters & Waterfront	When it comes to preserving healthy oceans, a vibrant food economy, and Rhode Island's most abundant local resource, fisheries and aquaculture farms are at the crux of it all. This brief will explore the challenges and opportunities facing the natural and built resource base of commercial fisheries and shellfish farms such as access to working waterfronts and coastal areas. The brief should identify the most pressing issues facing the resource base of our legacy fishing and aquaculture industries such as the warming of narragansett bay and access to working piers/docks as well as Indigenous traditional places of access.	Issue	Source Production	Jason Jarvis Wanda Hopkins Juli Stelmaszyk
#7	Urban Agriculture & Community-Based Food Production	Rhode Island has a growing number of urban farms and community gardens which provide economic opportunities and food sovereignty to communities that too often have limited access to affordable and culturally-appropriate fresh fruit and vegetables. This brief should explore the current state of urban farming and opportunities to continue to leverage programs as a means of economic mobility for small to mid-sized urban farmers.	Issue	Source Production	Grace Feisthamel Julius Kolawole Robin Spears
#8	Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fisheries Business Viability	Food producers face unique challenges in Rhode Island to sustain their business, often lacking access to the necessary small business assistance, infrastructure/equipment, labor, land and market channels to remain viable. This brief will assess the gaps of support needed to keep farms and fishers in production and sustained, including livable wages, a trained workforce, housing and transportation, regulatory compliance costs, and tax and legal services for farmers and fishers.	Issue	Source Production	Shayna Cohen & Clare Bramhall (Consultants) Jason Jarvis Cassius Spears Sr
#9	Supply Chain Infrastructure and Resilience	The pandemic demonstrated the fragility of our food supply chain and just how reliant we are on corporate, consolidated and distant food producers. This brief will identify the risks facing our food supply chain and make recommendations for how to build a more resilient, local/regional and diverse food system better prepared for future shocks to the system. This brief will explore how a localized food supply chain is not only more equitable, but environmentally sustainable (reduced emissions) and better quality (less food contaminates and issues with food safety.)	Issue	Mid-supply Chain	Shayna Cohen & Clare Bramhall (Consultants) Dawn Spears Angel Mendez
#10	Food & Beverage Business Viability and Market Access	Rhode Island is becoming a destination for food businesses start ups and there have been successful incubator models such as Southside Community Land Trust, Hope & Main, Town Made, etc however, there are insufficient means for these businesses to grow and remain in Rhode Island. Food businesses (manufacturing, processing, value-add producers) need different kinds of capital depending on their stage, scale and product. This has been cited as a barrier to growth for many minority-owned businesses and new/beginning producers and entrepreneurs. This brief will explore the landscape to identify gaps and opportunities to support growth for early and second stage food businesses including but not limited to navigating the regulatory landscape, determining infrastructure needs, scaling their growth, and overcoming the many challenges of the food system. This brief will assess gaps in assistance and opportunities to improve business support for food businesses.	Issue	Supporting Systems	Luca Carnevale Minnie Luong Loren Spears
#11	Labor & Workforce Development	In 2021 the food system employed roughly 64,000 individuals and comprised about 10-12% of all employment in RI. This brief will explore the challenges of the expanding workforce including childcare for farmers and fishers, developing future farmers/fishers through training programs, finding labor for food businesses, and living wages for food workers (many food workers are experiencing food insecurity and labor rights issues.)	Issue	Supporting Systems	Aarin Clemons Raul Figueroa Dawn Spears
#12	Food Innovation & Technology	Food innovation and technology is important in reducing emissions, supporting local agriculture and developing value added products that meet needs of current and future consumers. This brief will explore creative efforts and ways that Rhode Island can meet the demands of the changing food system through technology including controlled environment/indoor agriculture, future food solutions (alternative proteins and plant-based manufactured foods), ag technologies, and artificial technology solutions. This brief will explore the potential risks and benefits of food innovations, and ways that technologies can protect people and the planet while also creating opportunities for RI's economy and workforce.	Issue	Supporting Systems	Dinalyn Spears Julianne Stelmaszyk
#13	Water Quality & Soil Health	Our food system relies on clean water and healthful soil, and yet, much of our current food production pollutes these resource bases. This brief will examine how ground contaminants impact safety of food and how that impacts available land for production in RI. This brief will also explore the current conditions of our water and soil, both inland waterways and coastal waterways, in Rhode Island, to restore our soils and promote ocean/water vitality in support of long term food security and resilience.	Issue	Supporting Systems	Ruben Parrilla Cassius Spears Jr. Michael Byrns
#14	Food Systems & Nutrition Education	Food literacy and nutrition literacy are foundational to supporting a society of food citizens who understand the value of food producers and food workers and the role of food in the health of themselves and their community. There is no food, farm or nutrition education part of the state or federal curriculum in public schools, however organizations like Aquidneck Community Table and FoodCorps have proven that “food education” can improve students' mental health, connection to nature and contribute to living healthier lives as adults. This brief will speak to food system and nutrition education efforts to increase engagement in sustainable food system efforts that nourish all Rhode Islanders. This brief will cover the importance of education efforts that include educational programs on farming, gardening, environment (the importance of the bay, ocean, and inland waterways on the food system and health), “farm to school” efforts as well as the connection to foodways and culturally relevant foods important to people who live and work in Rhode Island.	Issue	Supporting Systems	Stephanie Pike Cassius Spears Jr. Raffini
#15	Wasted Food Source Reduction & Recovery	Surplus agricultural products and prepared foods often go to waste. As much as 40% of food is wasted at the household level. In Rhode Island, food waste is the most prevalent material in the landfill which is projected to be at capacity by 2035. While there are efforts underway to reduce waste at the farm and industry level through the passage of the 2017 “food waste ban”, there is no law surrounding residential food waste. Additionally, products from the food industry are lacking in value-add processing and are limited by regulations to be upcycled such as oyster and mussel shells. This brief will explore rescue efforts that aim to reduce food waste at the source and then seek to divert unused, perishable, and edible foods from landfills and into the hands of people experiencing food insecurity. This brief will examine mechanisms of reducing food waste both in residential, institutional and commercial spaces. This brief can also explore the production, packaging, and transport waste included in surplus food.	Issue	Consumption	Eva Agudelo Dana Siles Dinalyn Spears
#16	Consumer Demand, Eating Behaviors & Foodways	How and what we eat is connected to the land, water, our health, our community, the economy and culture. It drives demand for the types of food produced which can have both negative and positive impacts on nutrition and environmental outcomes. This brief will explore food ways and consumer eating trends of Rhode Islanders and address challenges/opportunities to support a more healthy, sustainable and culturally relevant food system. If we are to build a more resilient food system, with the 30 by 30 New England Food Vision in mind, we need to shift our diets towards more foods that are grown here in RI and the region. Concurrently, the Standard American Diet (SAD) contributes to 25-30% of total greenhouse gas emissions and high rates of diet-related diseases. This brief should examine opportunities and challenges to shifting diets towards more nutritionally dense, environmentally sustainable and culturally relevant foods that meet the changing demographics, and regional growing capacity. This brief will explore the historical impacts of colonialism and racism and the push of industrialized food production on diets and foodways.	Issue	Consumption	Sarah Amin Dawn Spears Loren Spears
#17	Food Access & Nutrition Security	In RI 1 in 4 households are food insecure (as of 2021) with huge disparities between households with children and Black and Latinx households, and the Narragansett Indian Tribe. This brief will address the complex and underlying conditions which contribute to food insecurity in Rhode Island during "NORMAL'' times (e.g. systemic issues such as affordability, agency, access, availability and appropriateness.) It should explore the role of the state-led Hunger Elimination Taskforce and the Food Access Bulletin and how it can serve to coordinate efforts to address these systemic conditions. It should also examine how food access and nutrition security impacts social determinants of health and chronic diet-related diseases in RI.	Issue	Consumption	Sarah Blau Chrystal Mars-Baker Alison Tovar
#18	Food Assistance & Hunger Relief	This is about our emergency feeding system and ACUTE hunger relief in response to stressors and system shocks. This may be in response to an environmental, economic or biologic (like a pandemic) disruption or the ongoing "crisis'' of chronic hunger and households that are reliant on food assistance for daily nutrition needs. This brief will connect closely with the more in depth RI State emergency food plan being led by the RIFPC which will seek to understand these issues (in context of emergencies) in more depth and develop strategies/solutions. This brief will specifically address nutrition programs in the state to alleviate acute hunger, what some call the emergency food system (SNAP, WIC, Bonus Bucks, food pantries).	Issue	Consumption	Sarah Amin Chrystal Mars-Baker Alison Tovar
#19	Composting and Downstream Food Waste Diversion	Over 30% of what ends up in the landfill is food/organic material. This brief will explore ways to remove food scraps and vegetative food materials from the landfill and in composting processes as a means of reducing emissions and helping to revive our soils.	Issue	Disposal	Jayne Merner Ruben Parrilla Cassius Spears Jr.
#20	Direct to Consumer	This brief will cover the direct to consumer market channel including farmers markets, CSAs, docks, and online sales, as in how local food moves through these channels, as well as the industry itself in Rhode Island and gaps/challenges.	Market		Thea Upham Dawn Spears
#21	Distribution & Wholesale	Making up $8 billion in economic activity of RI's $12 billion food economy, food distribution and wholesale is an important market channel for food in Rhode Island. This brief will examine various food distribution models for locally grown, raised and made products including wholesale, freight shipping, self distribution, and intermediated. It will examine the challenges with distribution logistics.	Market		Cayne Cabral Angel Mendez Jesse Rye
#22	Restaurants & Hospitality	Rhode Island's capital city has been deemed the city with the most restaurants per capita in the nation creating a vibrant tourism scene. This brief will explore the connections between local food producers and restaurants, the challenges and opportunities of the food hospitality market, and food tourism.	Market		Traci Dufresne Joaquin Meza Loren Spears
#23	Grocery & Retail	This brief will address the retail market channel including independent, regional and national supermarkets that exist in the state.	Market		Scott Bromberg Angel Mendez
#24	Institutional Markets	Institutions such as schools, colleges, hospitals, correctional facilities and state institutions influence an large number of eaters across the state every day. They have purchasing power and the ability to create more market demand for local, nutritious and values-based foods. This brief will cover the institutional market channels in Rhode Island to understand how local food moves through these markets and where there are opportunities to increase market access for local food businesses and consumption of local, regional and nutritious food for eaters.	Market		Eva Agudelo Angelo Garcia

Upcoming Events

RI Food Systems Planning for 2030 - Statewide Strategy Session -- TBD, check back soon!

Other planning efforts underway...

Renewing the State's food strategy with a shared vision for the year 2030 aligns with regional initiatives like the New England Food Vision’s 30% by 2030 goal as well as planning efforts underway by State government including: