Q&A: Ricardo Salvador, Program Director, Food Systems and Rural Development, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Ricardo Salvador, Program Director, Food Systems and Rural Development.
Courtesy: Ricardo Salvador |
As the Food and Society Initiative enters Phase Two, we decided to take this opportunity to talk with Food Systems and Rural Development Program Director Ricardo Salvador about what this phase will mean for the Foundation, for grantees, and for the food system.
What is Food and Society?
Our food system programming is built upon and guided by four core values. We believe that our support must result in economic viability for the people who produce our food and in long-term health for the land. We value a food system that is diverse—in terms of regionally-appropriate food items, scale of production, ecologically sound systems, and people—and that supports more farmers on the land for generations to come. We think that reconnecting food to culture and health is critical to improve future prospects for society. Finally, we believe that local, community-based food system enterprises can be economic engines for rural and urban areas.
These four values undergird the grantmaking we do for Food and Society. Food and Society is an initiative created around a vision for a sustainable future food system. What does that mean? It means that we envision all communities having the ability to access a safe and healthy food supply. Moreover, we believe this food should be grown in a manner that protects the environment and that adds social and economic value to urban and rural communities.
The Food and Society initiative began in 1999 and builds on previous Foundation initiatives, such as Integrated Food and Farming Systems (IFFS) and Food Systems Professionals in Education (FSPE).
Can you explain Food and Society's 2% to 10% food system goal?
We have a bold vision for the food system. We intend to be part of a social movement that catalyzes a shift in the food system that over a span of ten years results in at least 10% of retail sales of food aligned with our core values and vision. To be able to measure our progress, we developed a concrete goal. Having a measurable goal will guide our decisions and strategies, as well as help hold both the Foundation and our grantee partners accountable for progress and accomplishments in this work. It is intended to be a galvanizing and energizing goal in that it reflects seriousness of purpose and an audacious effort to make a clear difference in the food system.
What are the some of the strategies Kellogg will use to meet this goal?
Our grantmaking will encompass seven strategies. We want to encourage the growing cultural shift about food and its connection to health, community, and the environment. We think it is important to strengthen the intellectual basis of, and make a solid business case for, sustainability. We will continue to support strong and resilient models of community-owned and community-based enterprises. We want to engage youth as active leaders in their communities and in the national movement. Food and Society will attract new voices to inform public policies that reward public and private actors who support community-based and sustainable food systems. We wish to connect diverse stakeholders in cross-sector projects that accelerate innovation. Finally, we want to increase the number of funders and the amount of funding supporting efforts in alignment with the Food and Society vision and purpose.
What are some of the indicators you will use to assess progress?
We are measuring the annual change in retail sales of “ Good Food,” which is food that embodies four clear and measurable characteristics:
- It is healthy;
- It is green (produced in an environmentally sound manner);
- It is fair (to all involved in production, handling and eating);
- It is affordable.
We are in the final stages of developing an auditing process that will track these characteristics through each phase of production, processing and distribution.
How will the 2% to 10% goal affect Food and Society grantmaking and other work?
We expect our grantmaking to be strongly related with our theory of change, a conceptualization of how the food system works and of the dynamics and intervention points that are appropriate for our work. In its most basic form, our theory of change recognizes the market-driven nature of our food system, and the information milieu within which food choices are created and perceived.
One critical aspect of this theory of change is recognition that there presently is positive interest and momentum for greater demand for Good Food. We intend to be a force that assists in magnifying that demand.
A second aspect of our theory of change is to support the shift that helps conscious consumers become active citizens so that more effective public policy is created to help drive the food system toward this vision. One example of the kinds of policy innovations that will drive the food system toward the Food and Society vision are more locally and regionally based meat processing facilities so that small and midsize farmers raising pastured livestock can maintain profitability. Another is the senior farmers market coupon program that provides access for low-income seniors to Good Food while providing greater revenue to local farmers.
A third aspect to our Food and Society theory of change is to have living/working models of community owned and community-based enterprise so that as both consumer demand and public policy starts driving purchasing toward more healthy, fresh and local foods, there are structures that bring some of the economic and social value back to communities (so that benefits do not accrue solely to large corporations).
What role(s) do grantees play in meeting this goal?
Grantees are our principal partners in implementing the work, and in informing us, one another, and other key players in the food system about the outcomes and learning from their work. Ideally, this interactive relationship should result in multiple benefits to grantees and their organizations, the audiences they impact, and the food system and society at large.
What do you see as the greatest challenge to reaching this goal?
The realization of the Food and Society vision relies on all participants in the food system (producers, manufacturers and eaters) becoming more mindful of their eating and its impact on the world at large; that is, understanding their food as the end product of a global industrial, ecological and social system. When citizens understand how our food system works, we hope that they will take this way of thinking into other spheres of public life; for example, our fossil energy dependence and its relationship with climate change.
Why is the move to 10% important? Why not more?
Our best estimate is that 1.2% of retail food sales presently consist of Good Food. This means that a ten percent goal represents at least an eight-fold increase in the amount of Good Food purchased at retail. We believe that this goal is sufficiently challenging and realizable as to be a credible and energizing goal which all of us in this work can take seriously. If the Foundation were to be solely responsible for catalyzing this eight-fold increase, the implication is that we would need to leverage at least $2,600 dollars for every dollar we grant toward this work. We see ourselves as only one of many players in the cultural shift that is leading toward greater demand for Good Food, but this calculation is nonetheless useful to understand the magnitude of the task we have set for ourselves.
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