With its exceptional diversity of growing regions, Oregon has a strong agricultural heritage. The city of Portland itself is overflowing with restaurants, many of them award-winning, and yet: the rate of food insecurity of 14.6 % is high compared to other states. Among rural communities and communities of color, the risk of food insecurity is especially high.

In this session, we explore how our food gets from the field to our fork, and what gets lost along the way. We’ll be looking at different strategies of food distribution, from farmers markets, online platforms, membership-based distribution sites to nation-wide supermarkets. How do they relate to food security, independence, and sovereignty? How can we increase the presence of locally produced food in retail, while ensuring financial accessibility to all? Sarah Beaubien (sustainability executive), Julia Niiro (MilkRun) and Edward Hill (Black Food Sovereignty Coalition) will address efforts to transform our future food supply chains, in order to make our food system more equitable.