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Food, Fiber, and Farm Projects
Building a Resilient Regional Food, Fiber, and Farm Economy
Several RRRISE-funded initiatives are reshaping the Redwood Region's food, fiber, and farm systems — addressing critical gaps in production, processing, and distribution while strengthening regional agricultural resilience, supporting Tribal food sovereignty, and creating economic opportunity for priority communities.
Fire Lines & Fiber Bioregions: A Regional Wool Industry Cluster
Led by Kaos Sheep Outfit | Collaborators: Fibershed, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
The working lands of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties produce more than 57,000 pounds of wool annually — yet most of it leaves the state unprocessed, missing value-added opportunities for a sustainable material with innovative applications ranging from natural fertilizer pellets to medical packaging and flame-retardant products. Meanwhile, the region's waterways fill with microplastics and its workforce has little access to vocational training in contract grazing and regenerative land stewardship.
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Turning Firebreaks into Fiber: Building a Regional Wool Economy
Fire Lines & Fiber Bioregions is a feasibility study that proposes to solve this disconnect. Led by Kaos Sheep Outfit in collaboration with Fibershed and UC ANR, the study examines the potential for a Regional Wool Industry Cluster — assessing market demand for value-added wool products, evaluating infrastructure investment needs, developing supply chains and partnerships to boost producer profitability, and exploring workforce development opportunities in contract grazing and regenerative land stewardship.
Key Updates
The project convened a multi-county grazing workshop in early 2026, bringing together graziers, Resource Conservation Districts, fire councils, and land managers to refine a GIS-mapped grazing assessment across the Redwood Region. A three-day animal husbandry workforce training served 21 participants — nearly all facing workforce barriers — supported by scholarships. The feasibility study continues to document site parameters and business scenarios for a regional wool scour and value-added fiber facility. For the latest, follow Kaos Sheep Outfit.
Hmong Meat Processing Facility
Led by Hmong Association of Crescent City
When the Redwood Meat Company closed in 2024, it left local farmers with no processing facility within 160 miles — a critical blow to the region's agricultural economy and food system resilience. The Hmong Association of Crescent City is responding by developing a USDA-approved meat processing facility in Del Norte County that addresses this regional gap while meeting the culturally specific needs of the area's 500-member Hmong community.
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A Community-Owned Meat Processing Facility for a Stronger Regional Food System
The facility will process cattle, pigs, sheep, and poultry — approximately 160 animals per month — create five full-time jobs, and include retail and grocery components. A completed feasibility study confirms the project's 10-year financial viability. By reducing transportation costs for small and mid-sized farmers, strengthening regional food systems, and empowering Hmong and Latinx communities, the facility also serves as a model for rural, community-led economic development. Revenue generated will support ongoing Hmong Association community programming.
Key Updates
The project advanced financing, business planning, and facility design in close collaboration with ranchers, Tribal partners, and county agencies. Over 10 potential sites were evaluated and early engineering and feasibility work completed. Remaining funds are designated to secure site control and complete permitting.
For the latest, follow the Hmong Association of Crescent City.
Justice-Impacted Workers: Meaningful Land Work and Wellness Initiative
Led by The Ecotone Center for Land-Based Healing & Transformative Justice (formerly Earthseed Laboratories) | Collaborators: The Rebound Institute, Rhizome Wellness Collective, Transformational and Restorative Education Center, Cal Poly Humboldt Critical Agriculture Studies + Agroecology (CASA) program.
This award also includes a $100,000 sub-award to Black Humboldt to support parallel development of a Cultural and Economic Community Hub on the Redwood Coast.
The Redwood Region's food, fiber, and farm sectors offer some of the most promising opportunities for climate-resilient economic growth — but accessing those opportunities requires both infrastructure and intentional inclusion. This initiative advances both simultaneously, building a holistic workforce program that brings formerly incarcerated people into land-based work through a healing justice lens, while also developing infrastructure at Cal Poly Humboldt. The award will resource the predevelopment stages to build infrastructure supporting regional value-added processing, fiber experimentation, medicinal perennial production, and applied agricultural research. By expanding woodland medicinal and fiber industries and creating pathways for cooperative businesses in climate-resilient agriculture, the project deepens the region's food and farm economy while reaching its most excluded residents.
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Healing Through the Land: Workforce & Economic Empowerment for Justice-Impacted Communities
During this pre-development phase (March–September 2026), the project will finalize workforce program curriculum through a participatory design process involving justice-impacted leaders; complete planning and assessment for agricultural education and research infrastructure, advance analysis of woodland medicinal and fiber industry markets; and host a convening to deepen regional partnerships around prisoner reentry and ecological justice. Trauma-responsive wellness programming in collaboration with Rhizome Wellness Collective and The Rebound Institute is integrated throughout, recognizing that healing and economic empowerment are inseparable for justice-impacted communities.
Key Updates
Contracting was finalized in late February 2026, with more updates to come in the months ahead. For the latest, follow The Ecotone Center for Land-Based Healing & Transformative Justice.
North Coast Food System Network
Led by North Coast Growers' Association | Collaborators: Regional food system organizations, Tribal nations, fishing industry partners
The North Coast Food System Network connects regional organizations across the agriculture and fishing industries to build a more resilient, equitable, and connected food system across the North Coast. Led by the North Coast Growers' Association (NCGA), the Network increases collaboration through investments in infrastructure and capacity building — developing value chains, conducting marketing campaigns, engaging the workforce, and championing advocacy for the region's Working Lands and Blue Economy sector.
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A Regional Network Investing in Food System Infrastructure and Community-Led Agriculture
A key strength of the Network is its ability to leverage NCGA's capacity and experience to channel funding to community-led projects that often lack the resources to access large grant opportunities — particularly BIPOC-led organizations historically underrepresented in state and federal programming.
Projects within the Network span the breadth of the region's food system, including the Gather & Grow Food Hub and Resiliency Cold Node Project in Del Norte County; the Humboldt Dockside Market for direct fishermen-to-consumer sales; the Aquilli Metzli Masa Cooperative, a seed-to-table initiative led by Latinx and Indigenous community members; a mini-grant program for on-farm equipment; a feasibility study for a Regional Meat Processing Facility; an agriculturally focused commercial kitchen; and Tribal Food Sovereignty and Farm Production Planning in collaboration with the Tolowa dee-ni' Nation, Yurok Tribe, Hoopa Tribe, Blue Lake Rancheria, and Bear River Rancheria. A Regional Emergency Resilience Node Network will also pilot cold storage units connecting isolated communities with food aggregation and backup power capacity for both everyday use and disaster response.
Key Updates
The Network advanced regional food infrastructure by investing in a 15,000-square-foot food hub set to break ground in 2026, receiving 60 farmer applications for small equipment grants, and delivering hands-on climate-smart agricultural education to nearly 1,000 students. Direct seafood sales expanded through the launch of Dockside Markets in Humboldt and support for existing markets in Del Norte. Six Tribal food sovereignty programs were supported, and the Network is now being considered for California Jobs First Implementation Funding. For the latest, follow NCGA’s North Coast Food System Network.
Redwood Corridor SEEDS Network
Led by North Coast Opportunities | Collaborators: Women With Bows, School of Adaptive Agriculture, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Food deserts, limited land access for small-scale and Indigenous farmers, and eroded traditional stewardship practices are persistent challenges along the Highway 101 corridor in Mendocino County. The Redwood Corridor SEEDS Network addresses these inequities head-on by establishing a series of community-tailored food hubs that integrate Tribal food sovereignty with practical infrastructure development.
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Community-Led Food Hubs for Everyday Resilience and Emergency Preparedness
Each Redwood Corridor SEEDS Network hub — featuring commercial kitchens, processing equipment, and marketplace facilities — is designed through participatory community engagement to reflect local priorities. They serve multiple functions: supporting small producers and food entrepreneurs during everyday times, and standing ready as emergency food production and storage sites during crises. Women With Bows leads community engagement, equipment planning, and recipe development, while the School of Adaptive Agriculture conducts regional needs assessments to guide hub development.
Key Updates: The Network activated shared kitchen infrastructure at Ridgewood Ranch, installed a freeze dryer, and completed the first round of freeze-dried soup production. Through Women With Bows' Just Soup initiative, the project engaged 175+ community members, strengthened Tribal and inter-Tribal partnerships, and advanced harvest mapping and land access strategies. For the latest, follow North Coast Opportunities, Women With Bows, School of Adaptive Agriculture, and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
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