Supporting organic farmers through institutional procurement

The Alice Water’s Institute (AWI) will be a teaching and advocacy center at UC Davis, one of California’s leading public universities and home of one of the world’s leading agriculture schools.

In the Spring of 2023, Angela produced a landscape analysis for the Alice Waters Institute team and provided a comprehensive strategy to “connect the dots” between the work of the Institute and government/program partners in the state of California with focus on leveraging institutional procurement to reshape the food system of California. Inspired by the Copenhagen Model, Angela led a design process to develop a procurement framework that would center regenerative organic farmers, ranchers and farmworkers, while shifting the procurement practices of institutions. The Copenhagen Model is in reference to the City of Copenhagen accomplishing a shift to 90% organic food being provided in its institutional kitchens (schools, hospitals and government offices) by centering the professional development of food service workers and providing culturally relevant procurement support.