The mission of the Access, Equity, and Sovereignty (AES) Working Group is to advance food equity in the Western New York food system by identifying and better understanding programs, systems, structures and practices that contribute to barriers to inclusion and food access locally and regionally. The agenda or mission of the AES Working Group’s tasks and initiatives are to increase food security, contribute to community food sovereignty, and ensure that the Regional Leadership Team represents basic values that demonstrate highest standards with respect to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as described by Food Future WNY’s Guiding Principles.

The mission of the Farm and Food Business Finance Working Group is to expand the amount, variety, and fairness of capital available to farm and food businesses (FFBs) in the Western New York food system. Our objectives include defining the current ‘financial ecosystem” region, identifying its gaps, filling some of the gaps with new information and projects, and identifying new projects that can go further. We are especially committed to ensuring that the system is responsive to the needs of long-excluded businesses, including those that are small, those connected to low-income rural and urban communities, and those run by BIPOC and women entrepreneurs.

The mission of the Farmers and Producers Working Group is to increase the viability of WNY farmers, with particular emphasis on smaller, newer, and limited resource farmers. To do this, the Farmers and Producers Working Group seeks to understand and address both obstacles and challenges farmers face related to markets, access to processing and other infrastructure, availability of affordable finance and capital, and the need for peer support and networks. Within these broad objectives, the Working Group has focused on these four priority areas: 1) Expanding, improving markets for local foods, 2) Land access and affordability, 3) Strengthening and expanding infrastructure for meats, dairy, and value-added processing, and 4) Building or strengthening farmer networks to increase access to information, resources, and markets.

The mission of the Infrastructure Working Group is to foster a culture of networking and collaboration among diverse food system stakeholders to build scale appropriate infrastructure that supports a good food system. Building on existing assets, strategies to scale from local to regional and transnational will be explored. Priority areas of focus will include: meat processing efficiencies; transportation/logistic systems; e-systems and data portals; innovations in dairy processing and export networks and systems.

The mission of the Market and Buyers Working Group is to identify and better understand market barriers and opportunities for local, regional, and equitably produced food producers and take action to address selected barriers and opportunities. The group has these main objectives: 1) Increase local and regional food purchasing at higher educational institutions and other institutions in the region, and 2) Identify local, regional and state level policies that currently hinder stronger regional and equitable food market channels, or if established would enhance them, and plan to selectively address them in partnership with regional and state level organizations.