“To transform California’s food system, we must tell stories that reveal how soil, people, and culture regenerate together—where students organize for nourishment, farmers and chefs rebuild local economies, Indigenous wisdom guides renewal, and data meets narrative to show what’s possible when we care for the land and each other.” 

“Food literacy needs a cultural reboot—one that moves beyond nutrients and information to connection, culture, and care, aligning classrooms, cafeterias, and communities so that learning about food becomes a living practice of relationship, not a sidebar to it.”

“Catalyze transformation by aligning evidence, incentives, and infrastructure: pay for regeneration, price harms, localize public food dollars, professionalize food literacy across health and education, and secure land, labor, and joy—so nutrient-dense, climate-smart food becomes the default in California’s schools, hospitals, and communities.” 

• Enshrine a State Definition of Regenerative Agriculture: Co-create inclusive, science- and justice-informed criteria through a public process led by BIPOC, Indigenous, and small-scale farmers.
  
  

• Secure Permanent Funding: Move beyond ballot measures. Create permanent line-item funding (e.g., $500M/year) for the Healthy Soils Program, climate-smart farming, and bioregional planning.
  
  

• Reform Procurement Policy: Mandate that all state agencies (schools, prisons, hospitals) procure at least 30% of food from verified regenerative producers by 2030, with clear equity metrics (% BIPOC-owned, local, living wage).
  
  

• Forge Rural-Urban Legislative Alliances: Build bipartisan coalitions rooted in shared needs—fire resilience, water security, public health, and rural job creation—not partisan environmentalism.

Launch a Land Reparations & Regenerative Finance Platform: Fund land trusts, 99-year regenerative leases, preemptive purchase rights for tenants, and zero-interest transition grants ($50K–$500K).

Redirect Subsidies to Regenerative: Pressure federal and state legislators to shift crop insurance and emergency aid from industrial monoculture to diversified regenerative systems.

Establish True Cost Accounting & Ecosystem Service Payments: Internalize costs of soil loss, water depletion, and worker health. Compensate regenerative practices through carbon credits, water quality offsets, and public health savings.

Invest in Regional Food Infrastructure: Build co-op owned food hubs, processing facilities, storage, and cold chains for regionalized supply chains.

Fund BIPOC and Indigenous-Led Storytelling: Create a $50M fund for community media, films, curriculum, and digital platforms telling authentic regenerative stories.

Revise K–16 Education Standards: Integrate food literacy, agroecology, justice, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge into science, history, and civics education.

Support Farmer-to-Farmer Networks: Fund community-driven mentorship, participatory research, and horizontal knowledge exchange.

Create Apprenticeships & Career Pathways: Prioritize intergenerational skills transfer, land access, and paid training pipelines for youth from frontline communities.

Establish a Public Data Commons: Create open-access soil health, nutrient density, and ecosystem monitoring platforms governed by farmer cooperatives.

Fund Participatory Technology Development: Incentivize co-design between farmers and technologists, integrating TEK and agroecology into innovation grants.

Support Appropriate-Scale Mechanization: Provide grants for community equipment libraries, traditional tool-making, and repair skill-building—not just high-tech gadgets.

Enforce AI and Platform Accountability: Regulate algorithmic decision tools and ensure farmer control of data inputs and benefits.

Simplify and Tier Regulations: Create size-sensitive, culturally aware pathways for compliance (e.g., labor laws, food safety, water rules).

Legalize Communal Labor Practices: Recognize traditional, non-monetary labor sharing as legal, especially for refugee and immigrant communities.

Reform Water Law: Redefine "beneficial use" to prioritize ecosystem health and establish water justice frameworks for small and regenerative producers.

Fund Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS): Recognize and support community-led certification models that build trust, reduce gatekeeping, and uphold ecological integrity.

Scale Up Landscape-Level Restoration: Fund watershed cooperatives and bioregional planning that pool risk and coordinate ecosystem services across land parcels.

Reward Regenerative Climate Solutions: Link soil carbon increases, water recharge, and biodiversity protection to measurable payments.

Launch an Ecological Reparations Program: Clean up pesticide-contaminated communities, restore groundwater, and direct carbon funding to those historically harmed by industrial ag.

Tie Regenerative Ag to Wildfire Mitigation: Incentivize regenerative grazing, native perennial restoration, and fuel-load management as public safety strategies.