Food and Agriculture

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.

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.

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

Urban Ag Incentives Adopted in Santa Clara County and Sacramento

News / October 5, 2015

This fall, multiple jurisdictions, including Santa Clara County and Sacramento, have followed San Francisco’s model and created urban agriculture incentive zones of their own or have taken official steps toward doing so.

SPUR Comments on Urban Ag Incentive Zone Proposal in Santa Clara County

Advocacy Letter / August 17, 2015

SPUR generally supports the proposed amendment to establish an Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone in Santa Clara County, while maintaining that the legislation should include the requirement that urban ag projects have a public interface and that annual renewal paperwork be administered by the office of the Agricultural Commissioner.

Expanding Access to Healthy Food for Low-Income Californians

News / June 30, 2015

Healthy food incentive programs — which provide low-income families with matching dollars to buy fruits and vegetables — have been gaining traction in policy circles recently. Why the increased attention? Because these programs work. Expanding them in California would significantly improve healthy food access.

SPUR Supports Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones in Santa Clara County

Advocacy Letter / June 9, 2015

SPUR supports the resolution being considered at the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors that will allow the establishment of urban agriculture incentive zones within Santa Clara County.

SPUR Comments on SF Rec-Park Urban Agriculture Program

Advocacy Letter / May 28, 2015

SPUR comments on the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission's urban agriculture program at its one-year mark, including remarking on progress made in the past year and ideas for where the program can have a greater impact by expanding its existing efforts in the coming year.

Healthy Food Incentive Programs Get a Big Boost from Uncle Sam

News / April 6, 2015

The U.S. Department of Agriculture just gave a big shot in the arm to healthy food incentive programs. On April 1, the agency announced $31 million in grants to groups large and small — including three recipients in California — that provide matching dollars to low-income families who use their food assistance benefits to buy fruits and vegetables.