🍽️ Community Food Access
Activities
Food Sovereignty and Seed Saving Networks
After Manos Cambiadas, a gap stood out: many farmers could not sell what they grew. They started “Caja Verde,” a community-supported agriculture box; a year later that evolved into Mercado Verde. For over four years they have run a farmers market—200-plus markets—strengthening food sovereignty and security. ReGenerOsa works with farmers, elders, and schools on seed-saving networks, agroecological gardens, and cooperative distribution grounded in local knowledge and biodiversity. Pilot gardens are underway; the collective supports women reclaiming ancestral seed practices and native varieties. Scaling will take resources—more communities, training, and a regional network to link growers, seeds, and markets in a closed loop.
Community Food Security Project
When COVID-19 stopped tourism in Guanacaste, Costa Rica Regenerativa mobilized 500 farming families in a belt skeptics had called unsuitable for vegetables. Drawing on Cuban methods and Indigenous growing practices, they rebuilt severely degraded plots—harvesting water, stretching dry-season use, and rebuilding dark soil with carbon and mulch along lines developed over decades by Manders. Harvests came quickly; a mother told him the children’s eyes were shining again and their skin smooth again—something no economic return could match. A simple monitoring scheme used color rings on trees so non-readers could scan farm health at a glance. Cooking workshops helped families accept bitter traditional crops. Food forests followed for easier management and climate resilience. Teenagers—including young women on survey drones—gained skills that could keep rural life viable.
Institutional and Commercial Purchasing
Schools, universities, and hospitals could anchor steady demand for regional farms, but procurement rules, food-safety expectations, and thin coordination often block uptake. The Trust is bundling responses: procurement subsidies that reimburse institutional and commercial buyers for verified local purchases; investment in aggregation and food-safety capacity so farms can meet buyers where compliance is non-negotiable; and digital links between hubs and institutions to cut administrative friction.
Farm Food Access Program
The Farm Food Access Program is the Trust’s lead intervention: it pays farmers for food that is then prepared or boxed for community resource centers across six counties—getting dollars onto farms while feeding neighbors through trusted front-line organizations. The design grew from an eight-week pilot backed by a $1 million American Red Cross grant. The theory of change is straightforward—pay producers first, widen the program, and over time reduce dependence on one-off disaster and charity dollars by knitting in schools, institutions, and households as reliable buyers, supported by storytelling that builds demand for local food. Operations lean on Fastroots, a platform for spotting needs, coordinating resources, tracking impact, and sharing transparent, community-held data.
Urban-Rural Connection Initiative
The Urban-Rural Connection Initiative creates bridges between urban and rural areas by establishing agroecological stores in urban neighborhoods, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas. Products from ABIF units are marketed directly to urban consumers with prices kept accessible, ensuring that quality organic food reaches communities that might otherwise lack access. Consumers participate in educational programs on traditional food preparation, reinforcing culinary heritage, nutritional awareness, and sustainable consumption habits. This helps maintain traditional food knowledge while building urban-rural connections.