Our Story
Everyone deserves good food.
We make it happen.
We make it happen.
Good Food
The High Desert Food & Farm Alliance was developed in 2010 and formalized in 2012 to address the barriers and challenges with food access and production in the high desert region of Central Oregon. Our work was inspired by regional organizations that were dedicated to improving our food system. We believe that everyone deserves good food, and define good food as affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food that is easily accessible and sustainably produced in Central Oregon. More about our History.
Our Work
A lot of our work happens on-the-ground in our Central Oregon communities. In response to the needs identified by organizations and community members. Our five core programs focus on improving food security and access for everyone (with the majority of our funds supporting programs that improve food security for limited income residents), and supporting our farmers and ranchers who grow, raise and craft food.
Equitable Access
We recognize that not all Central Oregonians have the same access to good food and that many food assistance policies were created with inequities due in large part to historical and current systemic injustices. We are committed to improving equitable access for all through our programs.
Improving Food Security
We partner with regional organizations to improve food access for residents to locally produced food who have been historically marginalized due to systems and policies that do not adequately meet their needs. We strengthen the ties between traditional food security efforts (food bank) and work to build healthy food systems (farm to plate). We do this by purchasing fresh food directly from our local farmer Partners for our Food Access programs, providing educational materials about how to shop, prep and cook with local and fresh foods, and working with our agricultural producers to improve their viability and provide food for the community.
Our Commitment to Inclusion
We believe that individuals participating in our programs and community members interested in improving food security and farm and ranch viability should have the opportunity to provide feedback and become leaders in our work. We developed our Agricultural and Food Security Advisory Committees made up of community members, past participants and mission-aligned organizations to inform our current work, and to build the leadership capacity for the future of farming, ranching, and food access in Central Oregon.
Our Mission and Vision
Mission: Supporting a healthy and thriving food and farm network in Central Oregon through education, collaboration and inclusion.
Vision: A prosperous food and farm network with equitable access for all Central Oregonians.
To us this means farmers and ranchers are paid fair market value for their goods, residents have access to food that nourishes them and their families, and our local economy is vibrant and supports equitable food access for all Central Oregonians.
To achieve this, HDFFA will:
- Partner with those who grow, raise and make our food, to ensure that it is accessible to everyone.
- Collaborate with mission-aligned organizations, including health care, to improve our food system.
- Honor the lived experience of farmers and ranchers, and residents who have experienced, or continue to experience, food insecurity.
- Advocate for policies and programs that improve our food system.
Core Values
General
- Everyone deserves good food, and that our food connects us to each other.
- Central Oregon farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our local food system.
- Program participants and community members provide unique and regionally specific ideas that make our programs stronger.
- Together, HDFFA and community members can build leaders in the Central Oregon food system.
Agriculture and Food Entrepreneur Values
- We value the farmers and ranchers who grow our food and care for the land and animals do so with dignity and respect, and in a way that nourishes our community.
- We support the entrepreneurs whose craft is to make a local product that contributes to our High Desert economy.
Food Access Values
- We believe that everyone should have access to affordable, nutritious, local and culturally appropriate food at all times that is sustainably produced in Central Oregon and in a way that positively benefits our local economy.
- We aspire to improve the demand for and appreciation of local food, and to cherish every moment when food tastes better simply because it is local.
