USDA Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has named Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst at SAREP, the California Community Food Security co-liaison. Feenstra, a nutrition and food systems expert, will be the point of contact and resource coordinator for all community food security and anti-hunger activities within the state. Jerome Jeffries of the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Davis office is the co-liaison. Feenstra leads SAREP’s research and education efforts on Community Food Systems.

“Our community food security liaisons will play a critical role in supporting local and community-based efforts in fighting hunger,” Glickman said. “Gail Feenstra will bring dedication and commitment to this new role, and I look forward to working with her to help achieve our food security goals in California communities.”

The goal of USDA’s Community Food Security Initiative—launched by Glickman earlier this year—is to create and expand grass-roots partnerships that build local food systems and reduce hunger. USDA is joining with states, municipalities, nonprofit groups, and the private sector to strengthen local food systems by replicating best practices of existing efforts and by catalyzing new community commitments to fight hunger.

Feenstra was nominated for the position by UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Associate Vice President/Cooperative Extension Associate Director Henry Vaux. Feenstra will continue her SAREP work in addition to her new duties.

At SAREP, Feenstra is also a major collaborator on two large-scale USDA Fund for Rural America projects that link sustainable agriculture with rural community development. She is part of a project which brings together the expertise of UC researchers, the Davis-based Community Alliance with Family Farmers and the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission to increase adoption of sustainable agriculture practices and build farmer leadership skills to strengthen connections in local communities. She is also leading the California component of a nationwide project with Cornell and Iowa State University researchers which is demonstrating the role of farmers’ markets nationwide in rural development, entrepreneurship and job creation.

Feenstra’s work has resulted in publications to help community-based groups achieve food security including Local Food Systems and Sustainable Communities; Entrepreneurial Community Gardens: Growing Food, Skills, Jobs and Communities, co-authored with UC Davis researchers Sharyl McGrew and David Campbell; Growing a Community Food System, co-authored with Steven Garrett of Washington State University; and Community Food Systems in California: Profiles of 13 Collaborations, co-edited with Campbell.

“Disappearing farmland and increasing poverty affect food access for many people,” says Feenstra. “We are identifying strategies to expand community gardens and exploring ways to increase food access through regional agriculture. Research we’ve done shows that better links to area farmers and community gardening projects improve the quality and kind of food available to consumers.”

Feenstra has worked at SAREP since 1989. She has a doctorate in nutrition education from Columbia University and a bachelor of science in dietetics from UC Davis.