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1. Share something you are proud of from this year on a new card: Click the "+" sign in the bottom right corner. Type your response then click "publish"

2. React (add a heart) to others' contributions that you find impactful: Click the "heart" symbol in the bottom left of the card

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Forum's multi-phase work planning process (April - October 2025)

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Forum's multi-phase work planning process (April - October 2025)

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Member survey, topical opt-in calls, & priority setting discussions

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June Forum "State of the State" Presentations

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June Forum "State of the State" Presentations

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Webinar for Connecting Local Food Policy Entities

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Webinar for Connecting Local Food Policy Entities

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5-28-25 Food Policy Entity Webinar Meeting Summary.docx

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Food Policy Forum Membership Bios_Updated October 2025

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Climate, Water, Food Recommendations (Feb 2025)

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Climate, Water, Food Recommendations (Feb 2025)

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FoodPolicyForum_Managing Water to Ensure Food Security in a Changing Climate Recommendations Report (5)

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Clark County formed a Agricultural Commission for the first time

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Clark County formed a Agricultural Commission for the first time

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Ongoing state-funded local food system infrastructure grants!

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Ongoing state-funded local food system infrastructure grants!

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Skagit County's Cairnsping Mills is building it's second mill

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Skagit County's Cairnsping Mills is building it's second mill

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SNAP advocacy with Congress - it wasn't successful, but there was a LOT of hard work with our Members of Congress to protect SNAP

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SNAP advocacy with Congress - it wasn't successful, but there was a LOT of hard work with our Members of Congress to protect SNAP

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UW Food Systems team awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study food systems infrastructure

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UW Food Systems team awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study food systems infrastructure

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Designing Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure | Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health

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AFT, The Nature Conservancy, WSU, and UC Santa Barbara published research on feasibility of agrivoltaics in Washington

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Please use a new browser like Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge to improve your experience.

Low Hanging Fruit for Washington's Energy Future? Agrivoltaic Feasibility for Agricultural and Energy Resilience in the Evergreen State

This comprehensive report assesses the feasibility of agrivoltaics-the practice of intentionally integrating agriculture and solar energy-in Washington State from a technical and social perspective using a multi-pronged approach. The report provides an overview of research to-date on agrivoltaics, interpreting that research in the Washington context. It also maps Washington's agricultural lands to understand the suitability for agrivoltaics and presents a modeling approach that merges property-level solar array design with crop growth to assess agrivoltaic systems design.

The work was funded through an award from the Washington State Department of Commerce and led by The Nature Conservancy of Washington State.

Max R. Lambert, Addie Candib, Grace Wu, Riley Tinianov, Karina Schoenbachler, Jamie Robertson, Nicholas Altadonna, Md. Redwan Ahmad Khan, Kirti Rajagopalan, Matt Yourek, Lilly Fink Shapiro, Austin Kinzer, and Chad Kruger

Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust; Seattle, WA: The Nature Conservancy; Santa Barbara, CA: Spatial Climate Solutions Lab, University of California; Pullman, WA: College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University; Pullman, WA: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University; Wenatchee, WA: Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center, Washington State University; Pullman, WA: Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, Washington State University; Richland, WA: Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, Washington State University

Low Hanging Fruit for Washington's Energy Future? Agrivoltaic Feasibility for Agricultural and Energy Resilience in the Evergreen State

This comprehensive report assesses the feasibility of agrivoltaics-the practice of intentionally integrating agriculture and solar energy-in Washington State from a technical and social perspective using a multi-pronged approach. The report provides an overview of research to-date on agrivoltaics, interpreting that research in the Washington context. It also maps Washington's agricultural lands to understand the suitability for agrivoltaics and presents a modeling approach that merges property-level solar array design with crop growth to assess agrivoltaic systems design.

The work was funded through an award from the Washington State Department of Commerce and led by The Nature Conservancy of Washington State.

Max R. Lambert, Addie Candib, Grace Wu, Riley Tinianov, Karina Schoenbachler, Jamie Robertson, Nicholas Altadonna, Md. Redwan Ahmad Khan, Kirti Rajagopalan, Matt Yourek, Lilly Fink Shapiro, Austin Kinzer, and Chad Kruger

Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust; Seattle, WA: The Nature Conservancy; Santa Barbara, CA: Spatial Climate Solutions Lab, University of California; Pullman, WA: College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University; Pullman, WA: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University; Wenatchee, WA: Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center, Washington State University; Pullman, WA: Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, Washington State University; Richland, WA: Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, Washington State University

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Low Hanging Fruit for Washington's Energy Future? Agrivoltaic Feasibility for Agricultural and Energy Resilience in the Evergreen State - FIC

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This comprehensive report assesses the feasibility of agrivoltaics-the practice of intentionally integrating agriculture and solar energy-in Washington State from a technical and social perspective using a multi-pronged approach.

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King County and King Conservation completed an update to the Local Food Initiative - a 10 year road map for increasing food system resiliency

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King County and King Conservation completed an update to the Local Food Initiative - a 10 year road map for increasing food system resiliency

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Local Food Initiative - King County, Washington

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King County’s policy roadmap to grow the local food economy and make locally grown food accessible to all.

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WAFOOD team (UW + WSU) published a scientific article on food security and food assistance use, based on data from WAFOOD Waves 1-4

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WAFOOD team (UW + WSU) published a scientific article on food security and food assistance use, based on data from WAFOOD Waves 1-4

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Association between early-pandemic food assistance use and subsequent food security trajectories among households in Washington State during the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Background Research on COVID-19’s impact on food insecurity has primarily relied on cross-sectional data or long recall periods, with limited investigations into longitudinal patterns or the role of food assistance. Methods We analyzed longitudinal data from 703 respondents participating in at least three Washington State Food Security Survey waves between June 18, 2020, and January 7, 2023. We assessed food security using the United States Department of Agriculture’s six-item module, categorizing respondents’ trajectories as persistently food secure, persistently food insecure, or experiencing one or more food insecurity transitions. We categorized food assistance use as never used, used before COVID-19 but not at baseline, did not use before COVID-19 but used at baseline, or always used. We descriptively examined sociodemographic factors linked to each food security trajectory and food assistance use pattern. We assessed associations between food assistance use and food security trajectories using modified Poisson regression. Results We found that 20.2% of respondents were persistently food insecure, and 22.5% experienced one or more food insecurity transitions. Both patterns were more common among respondents who were aged 35 to 64, had a gender identity other than man or woman, were non-Hispanic Black, were single or divorced, had children, had some college education or less, reported $35,000 or less in household income, or were unemployed. In fully adjusted models, respondents who were newly using food assistance early in the COVID-19 pandemic had a higher probability of being persistently food insecure (marginal effect [ME] = 0.320, 95% CI = 0.204, 0.436) or experiencing one or more food insecurity transitions (ME = 0.216, 95% CI = 0.069, 0.363), than those who never used assistance. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of examining food security trajectories and food assistance use patterns and implementing policies that help households new to food assistance programs navigate these systems.

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100 School Districts and Childcares are increasing farm-direct purchases with WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grants

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100 School Districts and Childcares are increasing farm-direct purchases with WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grants

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Grantees | Washington State Department of Agriculture

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WSDA awarded 100 Farm to School Purchasing Grants to 85 school meals applicants and 15 childcare meals applicants, totaling $3,530,200, for the 2025-2027 biennium. WSDA received a total of 129 applications with funding requests totaling $6,969,324, almost double the amount of available funds.

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Summer EBT reached more than half a million low income kids across WA! and those families spent their benefits at farmers markets & grocery stores all summer 

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Summer EBT reached more than half a million low income kids across WA! and those families spent their benefits at farmers markets & grocery stores all summer 

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KCD created a new Climate Special Projects Coordinator to address climate resiliency for local agriculture.

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KCD created a new Climate Special Projects Coordinator to address climate resiliency for local agriculture.

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Has taught low-income families how to stretch their food dollars, improve diet quality, and ensure food safety. We are only in 3 Washington counties (Spokane, Clark, Pierce)

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$550,000 in grant funds distributed to farmers through the Washington State Organic and Sustainable Ag Fund

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$550,000 in grant funds distributed to farmers through the Washington State Organic and Sustainable Ag Fund

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The invitation to present before the House Ag Committee feels like an important turning point for the Forum.

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Despite the loss of funding, SNAP-Ed was able to reach 5,356 youth and 502 adults through nutrition education and increase healthy food access for 749,424 individuals through 1,015 policy, system, and environmental changes.

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$4 M more for FPLA!

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Federal Government Shutdown -Washington benefit recipients received full food benefits with little delay 

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Federal Government Shutdown -Washington benefit recipients received full food benefits with little delay 

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Community Farmland Trust received 501c3 status

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Community Farmland Trust received 501c3 status

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A new community farmland trust, Coastal Farmland Trust, was created in 2024, but received 501c3 status this month, and looks to support land access for farmers in the North Sound region - first project planned for 2026.

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Consider how remarkable it is that this diverse group of people came to consensus on water recommendations - a topic so controversial there is rarely ever consensus.

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Consider how remarkable it is that this diverse group of people came to consensus on water recommendations - a topic so controversial there is rarely ever consensus.

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Puget Sound Food Hub is approaching $10M in revenue, making it one of the most successful regional food hubs in the nation

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Puget Sound Food Hub is approaching $10M in revenue, making it one of the most successful regional food hubs in the nation

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WA legislature made historic investments in funding hunger relief grants through WSDA Food Assistance

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WA legislature made historic investments in funding hunger relief grants through WSDA Food Assistance

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WSDA Local Food System Infrastructure Grants continued to support investments in our local food system that help Washington producers make and deliver products to marketplaces in Washington. 

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WSDA Local Food System Infrastructure Grants continued to support investments in our local food system that help Washington producers make and deliver products to marketplaces in Washington. 

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Awarded Local Food System Infrastructure Grants | Washington State Department of Agriculture

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Recipients will use these grant funds to improve local food system post-harvest infrastructure and market access with equipment, facility improvements, supply chain and market access coordination, food safety improvements, workforce development, and related operating costs.

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6 WA universities & community colleges are wrapping up a 3-year pilot project to address food insecurity on college campuses (funded by Senate Bill 5702, and UW is leading evaluation efforts)

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6 WA universities & community colleges are wrapping up a 3-year pilot project to address food insecurity on college campuses (funded by Senate Bill 5702, and UW is leading evaluation efforts)

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Roughly $6 million in SNAP-Ed funds were directed toward farm-to-school and farm-to-early care initiatives, including classroom nutrition education, school gardens, and support for local purchasing.

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Watershed launched Georgetown Healthy Food Initiative, received food equity grant, started grocery store initiative and received support from City of Seattle for this