09/03/2026
2 weeks ago, Foodshed, CAFF, and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California gathered allies from across the worlds of healthcare and agriculture to unite under of the banner of Farmers’ Food As Medicine. Although the people who grow our food are often left out of conversations around food as medicine, small and local farmers who work with nature rather than against it are foundational to food as medicine through a robust, resilient food economy.
San Diego, which has the most small farms of any county in the US, is already a leader in this movement. Regenerative farms like beautiful Sage Hill Ranch Gardens, which graciously hosted us, and Avocado Bliss Retreat, which provided our delicious catering, point us toward a future where food heals the people who eat it, the people who grow, harvest, and distribute it, and the earth itself. At our gathering, we deepened the grassroots collaboration across sectors building this model from the ground up, but we also highlighted where political leadership needs to join the movement.
The disease outbreaks wracking the food system and the strains on agriculture from climate change and war demonstrate the urgent need for policy action to support Farmers’ Food As Medicine. We know what is working for thousands of people in San Diego and elsewhere; now we’re calling on our California policymakers to help us grow it.
Let’s realize our food system’s potential to be an engine of a healthier future. now!
