North Coast Food System Network

The North Coast Growers’ Association (NCGA) is collaborating with various food system entities within the agriculture and fishing industries to form the North Coast Food System Network (the Network) to advance the long-term vision for the region’s Working Lands and Blue Economy Industry Sectors.  The Network is an initiative developed to increase connectivity and collaboration between the North Coast region through investments into infrastructure and capacity building for the regional food system, and will support the Redwood Region RISE’s Working Lands and Blue Economy Industry Sector goals by:

• Developing value chains
• Conducting marketing campaigns
• Developing and engaging the workforce
• Enhancing resilient adaptation
• Building sector table capacity, strategic partnerships, and championing advocacy

The Network includes regional organizations and businesses who will work together to address food sovereignty and resiliency throughout the North Coast Region.

North Coast Food System Network at a Glance

These innovative projects include:

• Del Norte and Tribal Land Community Food Council (DNATL CFC) is utilizing Catalyst funds to support the next phase of development for the Gather & Grow Food Hub, and a regionally connected Resiliency Cold Node Project placing strategically located cold storage units throughout the county for local food aggregation and emergency response. The food hub will serve as transformative infrastructure for Del Norte supporting small farmers, strengthening local food systems, and creating year-round access to fresh, local food. Designed to include cold and dry storage, commercial and teaching kitchens, a retail market that accepts nutrition benefits, and space for community and Tribal food programs, the hub will also contribute to a broader “Health Village” vision alongside health and elder services.
• Humboldt Dockside Market is an NCGA led project to increase direct marketing opportunities for local fishermen by offering a bi-weekly open air fish market on Madaket Plaza in Eureka.
• Aquilli Metzli Masa Cooperative is a seed-to-table initiative led by Latinx and Indigenous community members, who will provide the community with high quality, heirloom maize, processing space to make masa, and educational experiences for people of all ages.
• NCGA’s Mini-Grant Program for farmers will be released in October 2025, and will provide funding for local farms to invest in on-farm equipment.
• Scheer Associates will lead a Feasibility Study of a Regional Meat Processing Facility, which will create a pathway forward to fill the gap left by the closure of Redwood Meat Company in 2024.
• NCGA is partnering with Ironside Metal Works to plan for an Agriculturally Focused Commercial Kitchen facility that will provide shared equipment for farmers to utilize in creating value-added products from their locally grown foods.
• In partnership with the Humboldt County Farm Bureau, we will kick-off the annual Humboldt County Ag Day on October 9th, 2025. This event is designed to connect K–4th grade students with their food system and inspire future agricultural workforce development.
• Regional tribes including the Tolowa dee-ni’ Nation, Yurok Tribe, Hoopa Tribe, Blue Lake Rancheria, and Bear River Rancheria will collaborate through the Network on Tribal Food Sovereignty and Farm Production Planning in order to learn about regional tribal projects and create plans to fill gaps in current systems and infrastructure.
• NCGA’s Regional Emergency Resilience Node Network will pilot a cold storage node network to connect isolated communities with cold storage and back-up power sources that can be used to store and aggregate food during “blue sky” times, and can be used to respond to disaster and emergency events.

These projects will be supported by NCGA staff, and will incorporate storytelling through videography and shared marketing strategies.  NCGA welcomes other community owned and operated food system businesses and organizations to reach out to get involved and collaborate.

The Network has been formed to uplift and connect the region’s many community driven agriculture and food projects.  Projects like these are created for and by the communities they will serve, but often community organizations do not have the capacity to access and administer large grant opportunities, especially given historical underfunding and underrepresentation of BIPOC organizations and projects within state and federal programming.  The Network will leverage the capacity and experience of NCGA to administer funding, support project initiators throughout and beyond the grant term, and ensure equitable and appropriate disbursement of funding to priority communities.