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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

How Detroit’s Food Entrepreneurs Are Invigorating Commercial Corridors and Neighborhoods

News /
Many Bay Area cities are seeing a significant uptick in commercial vacancies — a problem Detroit has been working to address for years. How has the Motor City responded, and what can we learn from its efforts? Here’s how four Detroit organizations have seized on the city’s culture of entrepreneurship to help launch and support food-related businesses that are repopulating deserted storefronts and enlivening neighborhoods that have received little investment.

Legislature and Governor Approve Extension of California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Program

News /
The California legislature and Governor Newsom have reinvested in the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot program, which provides low-income households with up to $60 each month in additional food assistance when they buy fresh fruits and vegetables with their electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. Funding in the amount of $9.4 million in the state budget approved last month ensures that the program won’t die on the vine, a victory given the state’s significant budget deficit.

SPUR Comments on Oakland's Draft Environmental Justice Element

Advocacy Letter
SPUR recently submitted comments on the Draft Environmental Justice Element of the City of Oakland 2045 General Plan Update. Overall, SPUR feels that the EJ Element Draft is a thoughtful document that effectively uses data and demonstrates a clear commitment to evidence-based, inclusionary policy. The EJ Element is an important step toward addressing Oakland's past of inequitable city planning and ensuring that all Oaklanders have access to pollution-free air, clean water, a safe home, and other positive environmental factors. In our comments, SPUR offers recommendations on how the EJ Element can be improved to meet these goals.

SPUR Supports SB 600, a Bill to Boost CalFresh Benefits

Advocacy Letter
SPUR supports SB 600 (Menjicar)– CalFresh Minimum Benefit Adequacy Act of 2023. The bill would boost CalFresh benefits, particularly for those who receive meager and inadequate allotments below $50 per month.

Two State Bills Aim to Shore Up the Food Safety Net

News /
The convergence of high food prices and the end of CalFresh emergency allotments is hitting low-income Californians hard. SPUR is co-sponsoring two bills to keep struggling households from slipping through the food safety net. Both would make proven pilots into permanent benefits that reduce hunger and improve public health.