Access Data and Assessments across the Food System
Building a better food future starts with understanding the current landscape. That’s why our team regularly shares in-depth reports and analysis on key topics such as food access, agriculture, small-scale farming, farmers’ markets, and policy. Explore and download our comprehensive Sustainable Food Center reports.
Central Texas LAND ACCESS Report
This report highlights the pressing need for investment in farmland preservation strategies and to propose achievable strategies to launch the Working Farms Fund in Central Texas, ensuring long-term agricultural viability and equity.
SFC Impact Report 2023
Sustainable Food Center’s 2023 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Whole Farm Revenue Protection & Micro Farm Crop Insurance Programs: A Texas Case Study
Farms of all types face significant risks beyond their control, such as market fluctuations, diseases, pests, and natural disasters. Small Texas farmers, particularly vulnerable, need viable crop insurance options as weather becomes increasingly erratic. Commissioned by Sustainable Food Center and prepared by Kitchen Table Consultants, this report documents a case study highlighting the urgent need for crop insurance for smaller, diversified farms in Texas.
Identifying Successful Behaviors and Strategies for Nutrition Security
Food insecurity impacts health through a variety of mechanisms, including hunger, nutrition, chronic stress, and behaviors such as directing limited resources to some needs rather than others. Sustainable Food Center applied the positive deviance approach to community-based research—which centers the voices, experiences, and inherent knowledge of community members—within the communities we serve to identify successful behaviors and strategies for nutrition security.
SFC Impact Report 2022
Sustainable Food Center’s 2022 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Texas Buyer Survey Pilot: Final Report
Sustainable Food Center developed and administered a pilot survey of Texas buyers to help build a greater understanding of the drivers and barriers to procuring local food for a variety of buyer types.
Statewide Discussions Around Snap & Double Up Food Bucks: Focus Groups and Regional Convenings
Sustainable Food Center (SFC) addresses food security challenges exacerbated by natural disasters and economic pressures in Texas. With 1.5 million households relying on SNAP benefits, SFC’s Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) program incentivizes SNAP clients to purchase fresh produce. Launched in 2012, DUFB has expanded from one Austin market to over 50 locations statewide, significantly improving access to healthy food for low-income residents. This report highlights the impact and growth of this essential program.
SFC Impact Report 2021
Sustainable Food Center’s 2021 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system
County Extension in Texas: An Analysis of Operations and Recommendations for Influencing Outcomes
Between November 2020 and January 2021, the Sustainable Food Center (SFC), in collaboration with the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, conducted a series of interviews with agriculture extension agents from around the country. The goals of the project were: to better understand how extension operates; assess how they determine county-level focus areas; and to enumerate ways that the Travis County Agricultural Extension Office can commit more attention and resources to food gardening education, food access, and regenerative agriculture.
SFC Impact Report 2020
Sustainable Food Center’s 2020 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Neighborhood Pop-up Grocery Project Final Report
COVID-19 had a devastating impact across multiple social and economic sectors in the Austin community, including food access for families and the local food supply chain for local farms and restaurants. Sustainable Food Center, in partnership with Foodshed Investors and the City of Austin, responded to the resulting food crisis with a grocery pilot project by providing local food to neighborhoods in need, while boosting the local economy through restaurants serving as additional food access outlets. Read our report to learn more about the project operations and impact.
SFC Impact Report 2019
Sustainable Food Center’s 2019 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Feasibility Study for a Central Texas Food Hub
This study addresses the need for a central aggregation and distribution hub for local Central Texas producers seeking access to new or expanded market opportunities in the Austin metro area. The final report analyzed the local supply, demand, and existing assets – with robust producer and consumer input – in order to inform the feasibility of a sustainable business model.
SFC Impact Report 2018
Sustainable Food Center’s 2018 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
SFC Impact Report 2017
Sustainable Food Center’s 2017 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
SFC Impact Report 2016
Sustainable Food Center’s 2016 Impact Report highlights a year of challenges, wins, and opportunities, made possible by the unwavering dedication of our staff, Board, partners, and communities. Covering July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, this report showcases our achievements and the impactful work we’ve accomplished together to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Increasing Access to Healthful Foods: A Qualitative Study with Residents of Low-income Communities
The purpose of this study was to gather low-income community members’ opinions about their food purchasing choices and their perceptions of the most effective ways to increase access to healthful foods in their communities. Published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
