UC Global Climate Leadership Council Sustainable Food Sourcing Project

Advancing Sustainable Food Supply Chain Sourcing and Dining Practices Across the University of California

This initiative, co-directed by Tim Galarneau, Food Systems Program Manager with Marilyn Biscotti, Senior UC Procurement Food and Hospitality Director, and UC Associate Director of Sustainabilty, Agnes Martelet, supports UC campuses and academic health centers to align definitions, data collection, and reporting on sustainable food procurement. With their facilitative leadership and technical assitance team they are engaging UC campuses and health centers on sustainable food procurement pathways, developing case studies on sustainable food sourcing success stories, and advancing progress towards the UC President’s goal of defining the actions and resources needed to procure at least 25% of our own food supplies from sustainable sources by 2030.

Project Overview

Through a multi-phase approach this project is advancing campus data tracking and supply chain sourcing as well as engaging technical assistance partnerships for increased sustainable food spending with a multi-pronged approach. The technical assistance team is assessing supply chain and policy mechanisms to rapidly accelerate sustainable sourcing with a nuanced approach while leveraging the synergistic relationships between UC applied research, educational programing, operational budgets, and long-standing supply chain contracts and sourcing partnerships.

Phase II Project Technical Assistance Team members include H Neito-Frambach, CEO, and Anna Bohbot, Senior Associate, from SupplyChange; Claire Tauber, Farm to Market Manager with Community Alliance with Family Farmers; Ben Thomas Founder & CEO of Shared Plate Strategies; Héktor Calderón-Victoria, Regional Food Systems Specialist, Center for Agroecology

Phase II Events (Winter 2025-Fall 2025)

Building on Phase I efforts (see below) the Project team has been working with stakeholders across California to prepare a set of convenings to build further sustainable sourcing and resilience in institutional supply chains with larger and smaller values based aggregators and distributors as well as farmer to small business owned and operated enterprises.

March 10, 2025 California Food Hub Convening 

• Overview: This convening brought together over 100 stakeholders including 30+ CA Food Hubs, farmers, enterprises, and community food system advocates with tools and strategies to learn about existing and emergent food hub designs, explore economic models, and strengthen the middle of the supply chain. THe sessions and breakouts generated timely updates to support sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems in California. As CDFA launches the CA Food Hub RFP in Winter 2025 this convening invited partners from around the state to further share, connect, and elevate strategic advances in Food hub operations and partnerships.
• RSVP 
• Participant generated CA Food Hub playlist
• Materials and Proceedings 

• Overview: This in-person convening brought together CA F2I aggregators and food chain partners, community food system advocates, technical assistance organizations and professionals, extension and CDFA affiliates, as well as committed CA food systems stakeholders! In Fall 2024 CA F2I stakeholders virtually met identifying a range of key dimensions and issues to convene and further explore together in spring 2025 and a planning team has been engaging with partners between now and then. This event is supported by the University of California Global Climate Leadership Council's Sustainable Food Sourcing and Service Project in collaboration with the CA Department of Food & Agriculture, Center for Agroecology, Center for Good Food Purchasing, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Health Care without Harm, Real Food Challenge (RFC), UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), & USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center.  
• RSVP
• Participant generated CA Farm to Institution Playlist
• Materials and Proceedings (forthcoming)

August 2025 (TBD) UC Systemwide Project Convening with Campus and Health Center Partners   

Fall 2025 (TBD) Advancing California Sustainable Food and Product Sourcing Supply Chain Convening  

Phase II Project Objectives (Winter 2025 through Winter 2026)

• Expand the integration of campus sites utilizing MaetaData for systemwide tracking and UC site level feedback in concert with UCOP procurement and the senior food commodity manager. Leverage engagement through the SFSWG.
• Facilitate systemwide and region-based campus/academic health center technical assistance on sourcing and new sustainable food supply chain vendors and contract advances.
• Work with academic health centers and campuses to develop a plan and process for transitioning to sustainable pre-cuts for bigger impact. 
• Evaluate the feasibility for developing a collaborative protein purchasing strategy and implementation plan.  
• Review opportunities for sustainable value-added product pilots across UC Sites.
• Support teams in working with primary and secondary vendors to create improved coding of sustainable products in product catalogs. 
• Support procurement food commodity leads and teams to review existing contracts and further improve contract language to increase sustainable food sourcing for UC campus and academic health center sites.
• Host a spring 2025 sustainable institutional food sourcing convening to share opportunities, challenges, and best practices across CA education and health care sites in order to improve local supply chains, contracts, and identify opportunities for partnerships. 
• Conduct detailed cost analysis of shifting from conventional to sustainable proteins and produce across the UC system and develop sustainability and social equity metrics to evaluate the impact of UC sourcing 25% of its food from sustainable and small and diverse enterprises. Develop clear outcomes for the UC in order to ensure site leads and systemwide leadership can speak to the implications of achieving this goal.
• Convene UC campus and academic health center site partners with UCOP and Project team in summer 2025 to review project impacts and inform next steps and directions for advancing interventions in FY 2025-26. 
• Provide technical training and support for Bonny Reiss Leading on Climate Sustainable Food Fellows in implementing site specific data collection and reporting/evaluation, as well as student and community engagement on sustainable food.
• Develop a Phase II project impact report providing insights on barriers and recommendations for improving regional and systemwide sustainable food sourcing to continue to build momentum to reach the Sustainable Practices Policy goal of 25% sustainable food sourcing (see Phase I report below).

Phase I Project Impact Report and Toolkit

Download PDF of Report Here

Phase I Project Overview

This project supports campus data tracking and sourcing evaluation in order to improve upon efforts to date while engaging student fellows and technical assistance partnerships for increased sustainable food spending with a multi-pronged approach. In Phase I our team assessed supply chain and policy mechanisms to accelerate sustainable sourcing with a nuanced approach while leveraging the synergistic relationships between UC applied research, educational programing, operational budgets, and long-standing supply chain contracts and sourcing partnerships.

Our project goals are to: 1) Advance the expansion and sourcing for sustainable food producers and enterprises in UC food service operations; and, 2) Assess the key barriers and introduce recommendations for improving overall reporting and sourcing practices that integrate strategic systemwide sourcing and campus-specific secondary contracts and data collection.

Phase I Project Objectives

• Provide technical training and support for Sustainable Food Global Food Initiative Fellows in implementing site specific engagement in data collection and reporting/evaluation
• Facilitate systemwide and region-based campus/medical center technical assistance on sourcing and new sustainable food supply chain vendors and contract advances.
• Identify and operate a campus pilot utilizing a new data tracking platform in concert with UCOP procurement and the senior commodity food manager.
• Convene strategic procurement food commodity leads to review existing contracts with project team in order to examine opportunities to improve contract language to increase sustainable food sourcing for UC campus and medical sites.
• Host spring 2024 sustainable food systems campus and medical center events to promote greater sustainable food literacy and project awareness.
• Develop a project impact report providing insights on barriers and recommendations for improving regional and systemwide sustainable food sourcing, focusing on advancing the presidential priority focus for reaching 25% sustainable food sourcing by 2025.

Phase I Project Technical Assistance Team members include H Neito-Frambach, CEO, and Anna Bohbot, Senior Associate, from SupplyChange; Claire Tauber, Farm to Market Manager and Ben Thomas with Community Alliance with Family Farmers; Héktor Calderón-Victoria, Regional Food Systems Specialist, Center for Agroecology; Amanda Chu, Procurement Director and Jesse James Student Organizing Director, Real Food Challenge. 

 For more details please contact Tim Galarneau tgalarne@ucsc.edu or 831-359-8861.