IMPACT STORYMAP
IMPACT STORIES
PARTNER IMPACT
The Urgent Need for a Risk Model on High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) as a Zoonotic Threat
The Western Institute for Food Safety & Security, a Program within the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with funding from the Southwest Regional Food Business Center has partnered with MOSIMTEC LLC to develop a risk-based model to understand the spread of HPAI in a dairy and study mitigation strategies to limit disease
transmission.
Terra Madre 2025 | Sacramento, California, September 26-29th
UCANR joined the “A Taste of California” Pavilion, alongside the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology, UC Global Climate Leadership Council, and UC ANR’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, F3 Local, UC Master Food Preserver Program, UC Master Gardeners, California 4-H, South Coast Research and Extension Center, and Nutrition Policy Institute. With over 165,000 event attendees, the Pavilion presented live cooking demonstrations, agricultural products from Business Builder awardees, panels, tastings, and more.
Sacramento Region Public Food Systems Investments
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Advisor, Olivia Henry Worked with the SWRFBC to create a map and database which catalogues public grant programs’ investments in food systems in the Sacramento region, with an emphasis on post-farm gate activities such as processing, aggregation and distribution. The goal is to understand the types of food systems funding shaping our region, and where public dollars are flowing. Proposal writers are encouraged to use this resource when scoping their projects. Please contact Olivia if you have any suggestions or additions: omhenry@ucanr.edu.
The University of California, with UC Santa Cruz at the forefront, is making significant strides toward its goal of sourcing 25 percent of its food from sustainable sources by 2030 through the UC Global Climate Leadership Council’s Sustainable Food Sourcing Project. This initiative is not only transforming food procurement across UC campuses but also having a profound impact on California’s agricultural and food systems by strengthening relationships with farmers, producers, and supply chains.
SW RFBC Evaluation Team Lead speaks at Town Hall with Rep. Mike Thompson at UC Davis on July 31, 2025
“I want to thank Congressman Thompson for taking the time today to meet with us all, hear our concerns and share his perspective.”
My name is Karen Jetter. I am a research economist and the interim associate director of agriculture and food systems with the UC ANR Policy Institute. This is a new institute currently being developed by UC Ag and Natural Resources. I am a member of UAW 4811. My comments represent my own opinions.
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I am currently working on two projects funded by the USDA that I’ll be discussing today.
The first is the Southwest Regional Food Business Center where I am the lead for evaluation and reporting. This is one of 12 regional centers that began activities in 2023 through a grant from the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service. The grant for the SW Center was $35 million. The Center currently has almost 30 partners from CA, AZ, NV, and UT including State Departments of Agriculture, academia and community organizations representing clients from throughout the food marketing chain including farmers, ranchers, food entrepreneurs, food hubs and institutional buyers such as hospitals. Its mission is to strengthen local and regional food systems by providing technical assistance and grants through the Business Builder award program.
Apryl Sims is a food entrepreneur, the owner of Apryl’s Life in a Bottle cold-pressed juices, and a client of Center partner Diaspora Groceries. After completing a training program, including a business plan and refining her sales pitch, she was able to obtain a contract to supply her juices to a local store in South Los Angeles.
Apryl is just one of over 2,000 individuals and nearly 1,800 organizations that have received technical assistance through the SW Center alone.
Center partners are also improving the availability to fresh fruits and vegetables in areas with limited access to full supermarkets or “food deserts”. AZ partner White Mountain Economic Development is working with farmer’s markets to increase the number of farmers selling fresh produce locally and to develop new farmer’s markets. These markets also benefit the people who live there by providing a source of fresh foods that people can purchase and consume in between trips to full service supermarkets located out of their neighborhoods. Many people who live in “food deserts” are only making one large food shopping trip a month, so increasing local access to fresh produce fills a much needed gap in improving the diets of people living in “food deserts” while at the same time providing local economic development.
The connections, partnerships and development of local food systems also contributes to a more resilient community. For example, the Eaton fire in LA destroyed urban farms and shut down a major farmer’s market in the Altadena area. People throughout the area were displaced. Center partners, through their connections, were able to help rally resources and connect food to people who lost their homes in the fires. People were able to help each other, instead of just relying on government resources.
Key to the success of the RFBCs has been the collaboration not only internally between our partners, but also the support and partnership from the USDA. There was an intentionality in the support provided by the USDA to create a foundation upon which sustainable support for local economic development can be realized. This included monthly meetings with Center team leads and USDA staff, and a USDA liaison assigned to each Center. Money wasn’t just thrown at a problem. Similarly, the technical assistance provided by the Centers is designed to complement, enhance and improve the success of projects funded through the Center’s Business Builder program. The accomplishments of all of the Centers is a prime example of a government program working as intended.
Two weeks ago all technical assistance programs were terminated effective 9/15/2025. Any applications for the business builder grant program that completed the USDA review process would be funded and the program continue in a reduced capacity through May 2026. While the grants will be distributed, there will be no technical assistance or other programs to support our clients. The entire program is scheduled to be completely terminated in May 2026.
The University of Nevada, Reno, as part of the Southwest Regional Food Business Center, has led technical assistance (TA) support through an one-on-one TA online program, Nevada Food Business Capacity Building grant program awards, and statewide partners.
2025 Agritourism Summit, UC ANR.
The Southwest Regional Food Business Center, led by University of California Santa Cruz’s Tim Galarneau presents at the Food Insecurity hearing at the California State Assembly to the Joint Committee on Human Services and Agriculture on March 26, 2025.
With an outreach spanning California’s Central Valley and centered within the Westside of Fresno, The Sweet Potato Project II has become a Fresno community institution. Using farming to combat poverty, this West Fresno Family Resource Center project produces sweet potatoes and inspires youth to add value to their harvested crops by inventing new products. From sweet potato shampoo to sweet potato ice cream, countless cohorts have dedicated time and energy to the growth and processing of sweet potatoes.
Utilizing this crop as a project reinforcement tool supports community ingenuity and progressive transitions. The sweet potato has become the source and center of a community mission to serve at-risk youth by providing a farming platform which exposes youth to entrepreneurship and farming. The partnership with California State University, Fresno and Southwest Regional Food Business Center promotes sweet potato production and an investment in future farmers/farms, the coordination team for SWRFBC at CSU Fresno is committed to guiding research and technical assistance applications that enhance value-added product development, inspire collaborations for farming events, and ultimately increase deliverables which build capacity to impact supply chain vulnerabilities.
Produced by Center Leadership Partner, Local First Arizona, The Story of Arizona’s Good Food documentary shares personal stories of resilience from land stewards and farmers working to ensure Arizona is a place where everyone can grow and enjoy good food.
The documentary provides an insider’s view of the Arizona’s Good Food economy – all the beauty and attention that goes into feeding our community. From seeing how mushrooms are made to following as a farm deals with the loss of farmland to development and going foraging for food in the desert, witness first-hand the opportunities and obstacles facing the local food system in Arizona.
CENTER IMPACT
The Southwest Center covers Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. Tribal nations and Colonias Communities along the Southern border are also included. Through its network of partner organizations, the Southwest Center will conduct place-based technical assistance and capacity-building across this four-state region. The goal of the Center is to build a ‘coalition of coalitions’ that delivers multi-sector coordination efforts and business development programs to strengthen local producers’ economic viability, improve the supply chain’s resilience, and center equity in regional food systems.
The Southwest Regional Food Business Center is a part of the USDA Regional Food Business Centers Program along with 11 other regional business centers and a National Intertribal Center. To find out more about the program and the other regional business centers visit the USDA Regional Food Business Centers Program website.
2025 Southwest Regional Food Business Center Impact Report.