Food Systems Working Group

Innovating Food Systems for All

Our Food Systems Working Group is bringing together key stakeholders around action-oriented projects to identify barriers and opportunities, facilitate productive partnerships, and build capacity to collectively reduce food waste at scale.

The global food system creates vast amounts of waste and requires an excess of inputs, creating challenges to the health of local ecosystems and communities. As food waste responsible for 6%
of global greenhouse gas emissions (Project Drawdown), our future requires us to prevent uneaten food and recycle inedible waste back into nutrient cycles. 80% of food produced by our farms goes to cities. San Antonio, as a hub of hospitality and food innovation, will drive solutions to global food waste.  

This summer, the Circular San Antonio food system expert working group aligned on these desired outcomes:

By 2030, we will move our city toward a circular food system by growing…

  • Thought leadership
 
    Our city is the circular food bastion of Texas; we actively share our expertise.

  • Love + culture
    We’ve mobilized a culture of hospitality and love for nature and food.

  • Deep understanding
    We know the problem inside and out and have clear opinions on best regional solutions.

  • Increased engagement
    We’ve cohered a strong, inclusive community voice that continually influences policy and public investment.

  • Imagination + innovation
    We’ve embraced and unlocked new value from new or untapped waste streams by mobilizing creative and intellectual communities.

  • Activated system
    Circular food practices are made standard and widespread. Businesses are empowered to do the heavy lifting. Loops are systematically closed through increased connectivity and community. Solutions increase access to food and opportunity equitably.

  • Evidence
    We’ve made verified impacts against measurable goals.

Toward these outcomes, we are focused on the following projects in year 1:

  • Goal A: Develop region-specific circular action guides for food businesses, multi-use developments, institutions, and community development organizations.

  • Goal B: Create a circular food ecosystem directory that enables food orgs to see and connect to one another to solve for their waste prevention, redistribution, recovery needs.

  • Goal C: Envision partnerships that deliver 1-2 scalable projects demonstrating the value of circular economy principles. The first project will be an immersive tour of local food circularity innovation in early 2025. A second project will be an "ideathon" engaging local innovators to solve local barriers to food sustainability.

Interested in joining the working group? Sign up to become a member and let us know!