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Food and Agriculture

Strengthening the Bay Area's urban and regional food systems

Photo by Michael Waldrep


From 2011 to 2024, SPUR ran a program focused on food and agriculture policy. In May 2024, the program started a new chapter as Fullwell, an independent nonprofit public policy group working to put an end to food insecurity and create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. The team continues to focus on the same campaigns it originated at SPUR, only from a new home. Learn more at fullwell.us.

 

Double Up Food Bucks California

Piloting a scalable model for making healthy food more affordable

One of the biggest obstacles to healthy eating is the affordability of healthy food. Our Double Up Food Bucks California project helps families overcome that barrier. The project provides matching funds so that families and individuals participating in the CalFresh program can buy even more fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store.

Healthy Food Project

Read more about the project

 

Medically-Supportive Food and Nutrition

Expanding health care coverage to use food as medicine

The need for these food-based interventions in Medicaid has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which highlighted many health and social inequities, especially for Black and Brown communities. This pandemic emphasizes the need to use food to treat and prevent chronic disease and to decrease the effects of health disparities and food insecurity on chronic disease.

Medically-Supportive Food and Nutrition

Read more about the project

Featured Publications

Healthy Food Within Reach

Helping Bay Area residents find, afford and choose healthy food

One in 10 adults in the Bay Area struggle to find three meals a day, while more than half of adults are overweight or obese. To meet our basic needs, improve public health and enhance our quality of life, Bay Area residents must have access to healthy food. SPUR recommends 12 actions that local governments can take to improve food access in Bay Area communities.
Read the report >>

 

Locally Nourished

How a stronger regional food system benefits the Bay Area

The Bay Area’s food system supports our greenbelt, employs hundreds of thousands of people, and helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. SPUR's recommends a series of policies to help us more effectively capture the benefits of our regional food system.
Read the report >>

 

Public Harvest

Expanding the use of public land for urban agriculture in San Francisco

Urban agriculture has captured the imagination of San Franciscans in recent years. But the city won't realize all the benefits of this growing interest unless it provides more land, more resources and better institutional support.
Read the report >>

Updates

SPUR supports renewing SFUSD meal provider contract

Advocacy Letter /
SPUR requests San Francisco Unified School District's Board of Education vote to approve the contract with the existing meals provider to prevent a gap in school meal service for SFUSD students.

SPUR Recommends Adopting Sugary Drink Tax

Advocacy Letter /
Letter requesting Mayor Breed to adopt the recommendations of the Sugary Drink Tax Advisory Committee (SDDTAC) into the upcoming budget.

2018 Was a Big Year for Federal and State Investment in Healthy Food Incentives

News /
Since 2017, SPUR's Double Up Food Bucks program has helped families eat healthier and stretch their food budgets further while also supporting California farmers. Our program’s success — and that of many others across the country — has garnered the attention and support of elected officials. Policymakers at both the federal and state level dedicated unprecedented amounts of money toward these programs in 2018.

Update: How Did San Francisco Decide to Spend Its Soda Tax Revenue?

News /
San Francisco began collecting a soda tax in 2018. While the tax measure didn't allocate revenue to a specific purpose, it did create a process for directing funds to the cause of better public health outcomes. SPUR took a close look at the process and how well it did at achieving the intended aims of the original measure.