The Hudson Valley Food System Coalition.
A transdisciplinary & regional coalition…
With representatives from Agriculture, Government, Community, Processing, Distribution, Health, Education, Food Access, Food Business, Environment, Funding, and the Culinary Arts.
Our mission is to realize a more equitable and regenerative Hudson Valley food system by connecting food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management practices while encouraging the use of our region's food resources to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our community.
We work to do this by
Initiating Collaboration
We initiate cross-sector collaborations among individuals and organizations from the nonprofit, government, philanthropic, and business sectors to create meaningful and lasting change in our food system.
Influencing Policy
We influence policy by leveraging our network to inform and advance food system policies.
Instigating Transformation
We instigate transformation by promoting community-level awareness, engagement, and programming in the food system.
Guided by the Following Core Values
Racial Equity & Justice:
Facilitate community food security and sovereignty, or equitable physical and economic access to safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and sustainably grown food at all times across a community, especially among oppressed populations. Facilitate equitable access to jobs and fair labor practices within the food system. Acknowledge the food system’s role in racial injustice and inequity and work with community to dismantle and rebuild.
Healthy People:
Recognize that supporting and promoting increased access to and the availability of healthy, fresh food impacts health at both the individual and community level, as does attention to community food security and equitable food access issues do in improving health outcomes, increasing social capital, strengthening sense of place, and offering entrepreneurial opportunities.
Regenerative & Sustainable Ecosystems:
Assess and mitigate the negative environmental and ecological effects relating to food system activities. Support food system activities that encourage the use of local and renewable energy resources and minimize energy use and waste.
Thriving Economies:
Acknowledge the vital role a regenerative food system plays in the economic development of communities through jobs, production on farms and in farm support businesses, food processing, food transport, food marketing, food distribution, food retail, and other food-related areas.
Vibrant Farms and Gardens:
Encourage long term planning and protection to keep rural farmland viable and affordable while encouraging urban agricultural policies and practices to connect people back to land and farming.
Systems Thinking and Cooperation:
Integrate food system policies and planning into land use, transportation, and urban/rural activities. Develop and enhance partnerships within the local governments to research and promote local solutions to food issues. Continue to work to link partners throughout the region. Create a comprehensive and cohesive strategy toward a resilient food system and a stronger region.
Our History
March 15, 2019, Our Inaugural Convening
Our first meeting gathered over 100 Food System partners at Locust Grove Estate in Poughkeepsie, NY, where our Working Groups emerged and began to consider and discuss issues and opportunities that exist within our regional food system.
May 3, 2019, Our Second Convening
We met at the Wallace Center at FDR’s Estate in Hyde Park, NY to work through different Food System Models, define our Core Values, and in our Working Groups to develop a written strategy to guide each priority area.
November 22, 2019, Our Third Convening
We met in the Barn at the Vassar Ecological Cooperative in Poughkeepsie, NY and heard from Lynndee Kemmet, Research Fellow at Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Following her presentation, our Working Groups had an opportunity to present on the progress they made in their work. We closed with a reframing of our Coalition structure and presented our Coalition working model.
Working Group Model
Working groups function as the “engine” of the Coalition. They work on specific initiatives to further strategic priorities and promote coalition wide projects.
Our Current Collaborators
Agrarian Trust, Armonia LLC, Bard College Office of Sustainability, Beacon City School District, Beacon Farmers Market, Bread Alone, C2 Biotechnologies, LLC, Capital Institute/ Hudson River Flows, Capital Roots, CCE Chemung, CCE Eat Smart New York Hudson Valley, Chester Agricultural Center, ChoShields Studio/Q Atelier Architecture DPC, City of Kingston, City of Poughkeepsie, Cleaver Co, Common Ground Farm, Community Compost Co., Community Food Funders (North Star Fund), Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam County, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County, Culinary Institute of America, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Dutchess County Behavioral Health, Dutchess Outreach, Inc., Ecological Citizen's Project, Essie's Restaurant, Family of Woodstock, Farm to Institution NYS/ American Farmland Trust, Farmer & HV CSA Coalition, Fishkill Farms, Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, Foundation for Community Health, Glynwood, Good Food Farmers / Dogwood Farm, Grace Church Grace Immigrant Outreach (GIO), Grace Episcopal Church, Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy, Inc., Green Table Farms/Cleaver Co, GrowNYC, GrowNYC Greenmarket, GrowNYC- Regional Grains Project, GWI, Hawthorne Valley Association/Rolling Grocer 19, Heroic Food, Hudson River Flows, Hudson River Housing, Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation, Hudson Valley Current, Hudson Valley Design Lab, Hudson Valley Farm Hub, Hudson Valley Harvest, Hudson Valley Regional Council, Initiative for Responsible Investment, Institute for Mindful Agriculture, Joule Assets, Inc., Kingston Food Coop, Kingston YMCA Farm Project, Land to Learn, Local Economies Project of the New World Foundation, Long Table Harvest, M.G. Hurd and Sons, Hurds Family Farm, Marbled Meat Shop, Mass Design Group, Matriark Foods, Meals on Wheels of Greater Newburgh, Inc., Mid-Hudson Library System, Moveable Beast, My Brother Bobby's Salsa, New York City Community Garden Coalition, Newburgh Urban Farm and Food Initiative, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets, Office of the Ulster County Executive, Orange County DPW, Phillies Bridge Farm Project Inc., Poughkeepsie City School District, Poughkeepsie Farm Project, Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, Regen Futures, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt NHSRVGA, Inc, .Rye & Red Clover Agricultural Consulting, Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Inc., Second Chance Foods, Sky High Farm, SNAP Ed NY, Star Route Farm, The Valley Table, TOUCHUlsterCorps, Inc., United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region, Upstate Venture Association of New York, US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Vassar College, Watershed Agricultural Council, Worker Justice Center of New York, Inc.