Community Engagement

Since 2014, we’ve hosted dozens of events, forums, summits, and symposiums with thousands of attendees spanning a wide range of occupations and affiliations. Our events give our community a space to tap into a movement based on a research supported understanding of our food system.

In 2022, we reignited a research community roundtable called to discuss latest developments, opportunities, and social, economic, and ecologically implications of tech in agriculture in order to create long-term research and educational partnerships that adhere to community-based participatory research principles and practices. Our focus is to promote appropriate, just, and equitable ag tech in higher education, on farms, and for workers throughout the food system.

Our food system operates better when we have well trained, well compensated, adaptable, and motivated workers. Since 2017, we have hosted annual career panels to connect our campus community to various career pathways in food systems. In 2023, we were awarded $325,000 from the USDA with help from California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) through the Transition to Organic Partnership Program to focus on organic industry workforce development , specifcally in the areas of technical assistance and values-based supply chains.

We are an ardent supporter of urban agriculture. In 2020, students organized and launched Berkeley Student Farms, a coalition of seven student-led garden and farm spaces on the UC Berkeley campus. To provide institutional support to Berkeley Student Farms, we staff a full time Agroecology and Wellness Coordinator to serve as a technical and skill-building mentor for students and the land.