November 2008: Food Guide Released
The Ventura Ag Futures Alliance working in cooperation with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and the Environmental Defense Center has released the First Edition of the Buy Fresh Buy Local Food Guide for Santa Barbara, Ventura, and northern Los Angeles Counties. The guide is packed with information about where to buy the freshest of local produce as well as informative articles about food and agriculture in the area. Copies of the Guide will be widely distributed in Ventura County or you can download it here.
We invite you to stay in touch with updates to the Guide and other news of interest to Ventura County by subscribing to the Ventura County AFA Alert, which is published every two months by email. You can subscribe here.
May 2008: AFA collaborates to create local food buying guide
The Ventura AFA has received a grant from the Columbia Foundation to work with the Community Alliance with Family Farms (CAFF) and the Environmental Defense Center of Santa Barbara to create a local food guide covering Santa Barbara, Ventura, and parts of Los Angeles Counties. The guide will feature local growers who sell direct to the public and sources to buy local foods off the farm including grocers and restaurants. It will be a one-stop guide to eating closer to home.
The guide will build on CAFF’s current Buy Fresh, Buy Local print and web-based consumer guides, but will include local information created by AFA and the Environmental Defense Center. The guide is expected to be available in the Fall of 2008.
January 2008: AFA Releases "Ag Worker Health Access: A Comprehensive Local Solution"
In a troubled American health system, farm workers are at particular risk for not receiving or receiving inadequate health care. The Ventura Ag Futures Alliance spent over a year collaborating with local ag employers, health insurers, and public agencies to develop a comprehensive local solution to the farm worker health access challenge. Ag Worker Health Access: A Comprehensive Local Solution, produced in collaboration with Central Coast Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), is the Alliance’s recommendations to the community of a way towards a healthier farm labor workfoce.