Food and Agriculture

Our goal: Create healthy, just and sustainable food systems, and put an end to food insecurity.

SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:

• Make healthy food easier to find, afford and choose.

• Preserve agricultural land and reduce the food systems’ environmental impact.

• Support Good Food Purchasing practices, access to farmland and industrial land for farmers and producers, and quality jobs in the food industry.

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

Find more food and agriculture research

  • SPUR Report

    Healthy Food Within Reach

    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 More

  • SPUR Report

    Locally Nourished

    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 More

  • SPUR Report

    Public Harvest

    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.

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  • Ongoing Initiative

    Double Up Food Bucks California

    Double Up Food Bucks California 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. For example, a shopper who spends $10 of CalFresh benefits on California-grown fruits and vegetables at participating stores will get an extra $10 to spend on any fresh produce in the store.

    Read More

Updates and Events

California Legislators Introduce New Bills as 2021 Session Kicks Off

News December 15, 2020
Last Monday, the California State Legislature convened to swear in members and introduce the first bills of the 2021-2022 legislative session. Here’s a round-up of notable bills that have already been introduced, including some key bills SPUR will be tracking.

SPUR Supports New Vision for Coyote Valley in San José General Plan

Policy Letter October 28, 2020
SPUR supports the staff recommendations related to Coyote Valley as outlined in the October 22 staff memo. We urge the Task Force to embrace all of the staff recommendations. They will go a long way in changing both the regulatory framework and the assumptions of the real estate market so that San José can refocus its plans for growth inward, rather than outward.

One Step Closer to Expanding Healthy Food Incentives in California

News October 23, 2020
A new request for applications may not, on the face of it, seem like a big deal. But, when the California Department of Social Services posted its request for applications for the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Integration Pilot Project in early September, it marked an important milestone in SPUR’s long-term goal of making healthy food incentives a permanent supplement to the CalFresh/SNAP program.

Six Ways to Better Deliver Benefits and Feed Hungry Californians

News September 23, 2020
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, social service agencies have been under-resourced and ill-prepared to deal with the huge surge of people seeking help to meet their basic needs. SPUR offers six ways the state can improve the benefits process and help Californians get the food assistance and other services they need.

Good Food for All: San Francisco Hospitals and Jails Commit to Improve Food Purchasing

News August 14, 2020
Two years after beginning an assessment of their food purchasing practices, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Public Health will start aligning these practices with standards set by the Center for Good Food Purchasing program. The goal is to leverage the agencies’ significant purchasing power by making choices that will improve the environment and human health.

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