The Kern County Food system Assessment is the product of collaboration among a broad range of stakeholders across the food system in Kern County, including farmers, retailers, consumers, public health and social service and agriculture professionals, educators, advocates, policymakers, regulators, and more. It is intended to serve as a catalyst for collaborative learning, relationship building, and community-based policy development to strengthen Kern County’s food system.

A sustainable community food system is a collaborative network that integrates sustainable food production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste management in order to enhance the environmental, economic and social health of a particular place. Farmers, consumers and communities partner to create a more locally based, self-reliant food economy.

One of the most important aspects of sustainable community food system projects is that they increase resident participation to achieve the following goals: