Policy + Planning Working Group

Purpose / Intention

By 2035, California’s policy and planning ecosystem operates as a regenerative commons—a coordinated, multi-sectoral framework that treats food, health, and ecology as public goods. The purpose of this vision is to realign governance around care, reciprocity, and equity rather than extraction or partisanship. Policy is not reactive but relational, guided by the principle that food is a human right and that thriving ecosystems are the foundation of thriving communities. Planning, in this future, becomes the act of stewardship.

Core Narrative

Participants described a thriving future in which the political landscape has transcended polarization. Regenerative and organic agriculture are not partisan issues but shared civic values—common ground for farmers, families, and lawmakers. A broad coalition connects education, agriculture, health, and climate policy under a single vision of public well-being. Legislators are trained in food literacy; producers are seen as educators and caretakers; and policy incentives reward regenerative practices while phasing out subsidies for extractive ones.

This future feels grounded, cooperative, and abundant. It feels like democracy returning to its roots in the land: campaign finance reform ensures that citizens’ voices outweigh corporate lobbies; planning systems use food system mapping to make interconnections visible; and “grandmother’s circles” safeguard wisdom, integrity, and moral compass against hijacking or co-optation. The policy system functions less like a machine and more like an ecosystem—adaptive, inclusive, and attuned to readiness for change.

Illustrative Examples & Guiding Principles

• Broaden the Political Tent: Frame regeneration as common sense and shared interest, not ideology.

• Safeguards for Integrity: “Grandmother’s circle” oversight models protect against corporate capture.

• Justice and Equity: Food as a human right; fair labor; and full inclusion of BIPOC and historically underserved farmers.

• Campaign Finance Reform: Undoing Citizens United to rebalance power between citizens and corporate interests.

• Human-Centered Economics: Decouple profit motives from essential needs; center the caring economy.

• Education & Literacy: Every policymaker and planner receives training in food systems and regenerative principles.

• Mapping & Visibility: Use participatory system maps to visualize history, actors, and desired futures for the food system.

• Holistic Health: Recognize interdependence of soil, animal, and human health in all planning and policy decisions.

• Compassionate Governance: Meet communities where they are, respect readiness to change, and prioritize adequate funding.

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Challenges, Opportunities, and Key Interventions

Purpose / Intention

The Policy & Planning strategy aims to transform governance from fragmented management to systems stewardship. Participants agreed that policy is the connective tissue through which regenerative change can scale—yet the current system remains fragmented, reactive, and politically polarized. The intention of this work is to develop the narratives, tools, and coalitions that allow California’s policy ecosystem to think, plan, and act systemically. This means uniting diverse stakeholders around a shared language of regeneration, grounded in evidence, values, and compassion.

Core Narrative

The central challenge is incoherence: policy discourse remains piecemeal, reactive, and dominated by short-term incentives. There is no cohesive narrative linking soil to health, farmer to legislator, or public values to budget priorities. Without a shared story, even the best programs remain isolated. Participants named the urgent need for a new paradigm narrative—a storyline that makes regeneration legible, compelling, and bipartisan.

Opportunities lie in creating this connective narrative through mapping, movement-building, and civic education. By visualizing the food system’s interconnections, coalitions can see where their efforts overlap rather than compete. By investing in food system literacy for policymakers, the state can cultivate empathy and systems fluency among decision-makers. And by reconciling complex rating and accountability systems, California can track progress with transparency and integrity. The deeper invitation is to move from transactional politics to transformational governance—where planning becomes an act of collective imagination. 

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