Regenerative Systems Development in the Inland Empire:
Food Sovereignty-Community Equity-Climate Justice

Augie Dixit’s Organic Farm in the Santa Margarita River Watershed produces meyer lemons and palm trees used for Urban Landscaping. Current plans include a joint venture with World Be Well to expand the meyer lemon orchards and chip the palm trees for woodchips. The USDA has determined that woodchips enhance biomass and save water.

Healing Living Systems sponsored a local Farmer Trainer Training Program in 2018. Huerte del Valle’s Maria Alonso not only participated in that program, but as ED has trained many local farmers as Huerte. She continues not only to grow nutrient dense food for Huerte’s community, but grow agroecology leaders, who add great value to Huerte’s community at large.

The Grow Riverside Program that hosts annual educational events was launched in 2016 based on a Charter Document that the City Council of Riverside looked to recreate an agricultural future based on science, community, and art.

Market Match is now complemented by the potential of on-line ordering of healthy, local fruits and vegetables and pickup sites at four local Farmers’ Markets:

• City of Riverside (Eastside)
• Desert Hot Springs
• Banning
• San Jacinto

All the areas in purple are Food Deserts throughout Riverside County. The pick up sites are distributed evenly throughout the county—see map below.

Grow Riverside Conferences initiated a teaching/ learning model that persists. Further relationships with R’Garden at UC Riverside and enabling gifts of nutrient dense food to be made available to community members, who cannot afford these fruits and vegetables. Local chefs demonstrate how to prepare these locally grown foods with the goal being an increase in community health in these populations.