A Site Visit With Kitchen Table Advisors And California Farmlink

Getting out for a field trip beats sitting at a desk any day of the week, but this is especially true when the field trip involves two beautiful Bay-Area farms and a delicious lunch made with local ingredients.

The New Belgium Family Foundation has been supporting the work of Kitchen Table Advisors and California Farmlink for several years. The two organizations work closely together to solve vital challenges facing California’s food system.

California Farmlink is both a non-profit organization as well as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Its mission is “to link independent farmers and ranchers with the land and financing they need for a sustainable future”. The organization’s programs focus on providing financial and technical assistance to under-capitalized groups, including women, people of color, and immigrants.

Kitchen Table Advisors offers wrap-around technical assistance to farmers and food entrepreneurs with the intention of building farm and food businesses into sustainable livelihoods for their owners and their families.

Kitchen Table Advisors envisions a new generation of thriving small-scale, sustainable farms that produce healthy food and form the foundation of regional food systems. 

Following a meeting of the Board of Directors of the New Belgium Family Foundation, our group had a chance to tour a diversified vegetable farm as well as grassfed beef ranch just South of San Francisco.

On our first stop to Blue House Farm, we learned from farmer Ryan that a key challenge he faces is finding housing for his farm workers. With some financing assistance from California Farmlink, he was able to build several units of on-farm housing for his workers. This goes a long way in helping him to attract and retain an experienced team of workers.

On our second stop to Markegard Family Grassfed, we learned how Doniga Markegard and her family use rotational grazing to build soil fertility. The adaptive grazing techniques are restoring natural grassland habitat, improving water retention on the land, and building soil health. Doniga pointed out to us that the way she and her family raise their animals is more expensive than more conventional methods, and that there needs to be a way for farmers and ranchers to get paid for providing these ecosystem services that benefit everyone.

Our field trip wrapped up with a delicious lunch prepared by an alum of the San Francisco non profit food incubator La Cocina (another grant partner of NBFF’s). Adriana Lahl of Sal de La Vida Gourmet provided a delicious salad featuring steak from Doniga’s ranch and veggies from Ryan’s farm, as well as bread from Tartine Bakery.

Thanks to our friends at Kitchen Table Advisers and California Farmlink that made this wonderful day possible!

Learn more about Kitchen Table Advisors here

Learn more about California Farmlink here

Learn more about La Cocina here