State of the Food System Summits & Other Convenings

State of the Food System Summits

In 2021 through 2024, NJFDC convened a State of the Food System Summit for NJ. You can learn more and view recordings of some of the sessions on our YouTube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@njfooddemocracycollaborati888

Upcoming convenings

Workgroup Member Interest Meeting: Friday March 21, from 3 - 4 PM

Learn about FDC’s workgroups here. Registration is required for this meeting. Click here to register. Takes place on Zoom.

Monthly “Food Democracy Coaching Drop-In Sessions”. Sign up required. Click here for more information. Takes place on Zoom.

“Food Democracy Lunch and Learns”. January Lunch and Learn will be about the NJ State Board of Agriculture & State Agriculture Convention. Happening on January 28, from 1 - 2:30 PM, via Zoom. Register here.

“Food Democracy Lunch and Learn”, March 2025 Topic: FDC Legislative and Policy Priorities & Food System Roadmap Progress Update. March 5, 12 - 1:30 PM. Save the date. Registration here. Takes place on Zoom.

2024-25 Regional Food System Summits

Regional Summit Goals: 

  • Improve awareness of the region’s food system, its people, and organizations

  • Improve connections between multiple sectors within a regional foodshed

  • Build and expand connections; find common ground

  • Elevate conversations around food policy and opportunities to address critical supply chain/value chain infrastructure needs

  • Move toward consensus on a set of high impact/high priority needs for the region to report out at the state-wide Summit in 2025

When and Where:

We hope you will register for the summit closest to where you live or work, but you should feel free to register for whichever feels right to you. 

  • Southern NJ: December 5, 2024,  9 am am  - 3 pm, Rancocas Creek Farm, Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Southampton.

  • Northern NJ: December 13, 2024, 9 am - 2 pm, Rutgers University, Paul Robeson Student Center, Newark.

  • Central NJ: January 10, 2025, 9 am - 2 pm, Rutgers University, Douglas Student Center, New Brunswick.

2024-25 Regional Food System Summits

Hosted by Rutgers University Agricultural Experiment Station, NJ Food Democracy Collaborative, and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance

Notes from the Regional Summits are being compiled, and will be shared with attendees of each summit, and with the public later this year. Stay tuned for details.

  • Duke Farms, Doris Duke Foundation

    NJ Department of Agriculture

    The Common Market

    NJ Food Security Initiative

    Ocean First Bank

    NOFA-NJ

    Rolling Harvest Food Rescue

    Foodshed Alliance

    BIFU

    NJ Agricultural Society

  • To better understand how the Regional Fact Sheets were developed, download the supplemental reading here.

    Have something to add or an error to correct on the Fact Sheets? Use this link below to tell us about it.

    https://forms.gle/swpbw5Z6g8CUum2z5

Past Events

  • NJ Food Hubs and Farmer Cooperatives

    March 2024

    For NJ farmers, this was an opportunity to meet and learn from representatives from several different types of food aggregators in the state and learn about wholesaling in this fashion.

    View recording.

  • CARAT Information Session

    April 2024

    To learn about a tool that can be used by communities to assess and understand community and agricultural resilience. Hosted with the North American Food Systems Network.

    More about CARAT

  • 2024 Annual Public Meeting

    June 2024 via Zoom covering NJFDC’s activities, goals, and priorities.

    CLICK TO VIEW SLIDES