AIM’s 2022 Climate Action Champion Award Nominees
Lauren Betts, January 24, 2023
On December 3rd, 2022, we gathered for the planet and celebrated AIM (Agricultural Institute of Marin) and our future Center for Food and Agriculture. Thank you to everyone for making our Inaugural Gala Celebration and Fundraiser for the Future of Food, a huge success. Together, we raised over $265,000 in support of AIM’s farmers markets, community programs and the Center for Food and Agriculture.
“Gather for the Planet ‘' Gala Celebration is an opportunity for food system workers and advocates to eat, sing, dance, and come together around one common goal: to build a healthier, more equitable, Earth-friendly local and regional food system. All of us work tirelessly in our own corner of the food system to ensure the work we do is sustainable to people and the planet.
Sustainability and climate work takes many different forms. Some of us search for and write grants that enable sustainable farming practices. Others may be putting their heads together to find solutions to over-use of plastic packaging. Someone may specialize in resource recovery education while someone else may be inventing new tractor implements to revolutionize no-till agriculture. Throughout our work we are dreamers, imagining and communicating the exciting potential future food system we are working to create.
The farmers and food purveyors at our farmers markets are committed beyond a full time job. They are growing and creating the food that we rejoice over every day. Our market purveyors are on the frontline of the climate crisis. Despite this, they are coming up with some of the most innovative solutions and strategies for navigating climate change.
The Agricultural Institute of Marin presented the Climate Action Champion Award to one of our market participants at the Gala. Bivalve Dairy is the recipient of AIM’s first annual Climate Action Champion Award, presented to an individual farm, or small business that has developed innovative and replicable solutions to address the climate crisis through agriculture, food production, or craftsmanship. Bivalve Dairy shares the importance of organic dairy farming, humane animal husbandry, and contributions to AIM through the Diggin’ on the Farm program.
Bivalve Dairy was one of eleven nominees for the award and were reviewed by an independent panel and ranked the highest for their work. They have an innovative model to greenhouse gas emissions at the dairy with the use of rumba-type robots to vacuum manure and convert from a water-intensive flushing system. It also includes the processing of manure through an in-vessel composting system. The project improves both water quality, reduces GHG emissions, and protects our local communities and watersheds from contaminants.
Though only one award was given, we wanted to recognize all eleven Climate Action nominees from our markets. It’s incredible the work that our market participants are achieving to protect the planet.
Bivalve is a multigenerational dairy farm on a 700+ acre home ranch in Point Reyes Station that has been in Karen Bianchini’s family since 1974. Karen, her husband John, and their family moved back to the ranch in 2006 and transitioned the herd and land to an organic operation. The ranch is home to around 300 milking cows and 200 stock animals. Bivalve uses sustainable grazing practices and is working on a multi-year project in partnership with other conservation organizations to transform their waste management practices. They are using innovative tools like rumba-type robots to vacuum manure instead of using a water powered flushing system, and an in-house waste recycling/composting system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve and protect water.
Elliot Sharifi started Obour in San Francisco in 2017. Obour was born out of the lack of quality hummus and tahini in grocery stores and farmers markets, and has done a thorough job of solving that problem. Elliot and his team have worked to make Obour products available at 14 farmers markets and groceries stores including Berkeley Bowl and Eataly in the Silicon Valley. They’ve also opened a brick and mortar in the SF Ferry Building. Obour distributes their freshly made (from real chickpeas, not powder) hummus and tahini in glass jars, which they also accept back through a jar return program to be sterilized and re-used, reducing waste and encouraging their customers to help reduce waste too.
Megan Bre Camp, a chef (she worked at both Standard Fare and Three Stone Hearth in the bay area) and student of horticulture and permaculture, founded Summer Solace in 2014 with a strong desire to help people struggling through skin ailments find deep and healthy relief. Megan makes high-quality, tallow based body care products and is dedicated to producing her product sustainably. She does this largely through sourcing from local farmers who also practice sustainable production. Summer Solace is based around the practice of using all parts of an animal and uses suet (hard raw of fat found around the loins and kidneys) of cows raised by Stemple Creek Ranch, and organic calendula flowers and olive oil grown by the Yocha Dehe people in the Capay Valley.
The farmers at Alexandre are 4th and 5th generation farmers. They were certified organic in 2001 and manage around 4,300 acres in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. They produce some of the yummiest milk products you can get and their cows are all A2/A2, they do not produce the A1 beta-casein found in most commercially available cow’s milk. A1 is difficult for humans to digest as opposed to A2 beta-casein, the same primary protein that human milk contains which is easier for our human bodies to digest/absorb. The folks at Alexandre grow the majority of their own organic alfalfa, use an internal composting system, practice rotational grazing (with their chickens and cows) to regenerate soil and sequester carbon.
Robert Lower started Flying Disc ranch in the Coachella Valley in 1979. Flying Disc sells many different varieties of palm dates at farmers’ markets and restaurants throughout the Bay Area and Southern California. Robert’s climate conscious practices include growing dates in a permaculture style food forest with the palm dates as canopy trees. The dates grow alongside citrus, and figs, and aloe vera, and other ground covering crops in a no-till system. Robert also uses a chipper to shred palm tree residue to use as in-house mulch and compost.
Imani Glover, an entrepreneur and writer, officially founded the Lemonade Bar in 2018. The business is both a project meant to showcase some extremely good and super flavorful lemonade and a way for Imani to leave a legacy for her family and teach them how to be involved in/run a business. They began making their lemonade in the Dig Deep Farm kitchen, a community commercial kitchen in San Leandro, and they sell in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area at farmer’s markets and pop up events. Imani and her team use organic and locally sourced ingredients and they sell the Lemonade Bar products in biodegradable containers. They also plan to begin bringing their food waste to local farms to be turned into compost.
Maria Clamenti worked in natural resource management in Arizona before starting Dooryard Provisions in 2020. She makes organic health foods made from locally foraged, gleaned, and purchased ingredients and sells them online and at farmers’ markets. Her products include things like foraged nori, herb blends, kale chips, jams, and trail mixes. In addition to their creative and sustainable sourcing, Dooryard Provisions uses compostable packaging and stresses reducing/eliminating their use of plastic.
Founded by Sway Soturi, Forest and flour is a gluten, dairy, nut, soy, nightshade free bakery based in San Jose, California. Sway is a chef who focuses on sustainability, community, and health. Forest and flour sells at farmers’ markets and out of their brick and mortar. They use mostly compostable packaging for their products with the intention of going 100% compostable. They run their baking outside of peak energy usage hours and create delivery and farmers’ market routes that save gas and energy. Forest and Flour upcycles their bread products and donate not only products but also some profits to organizations that they partner with including the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth and the Andean Research Institute.
Kai Nortay has a masters of Science and Integrated marketing communications, a Bachelors in sociology and a Minor in biology. She studied systemic racism in healthcare and food systems and focuses her food work on healthy food systems, restorative economics, and race and gender equity. This work started to take shape as the future Kubé Nice Cream in 2014, now a PBC (Public Benefit Corporation), a small business that makes full fat coconut ice cream without preservatives or bleaching chemicals, from minimally processed and fair trade sourced coconuts. Kubé also brings their coconut by-products (coconut shreds and shells) to local farms in the Bay area to be made into compost.
Jamil Burns studied environmental University of the Pacific where he learned about the impact of agriculture on the planet. He started Raised Roots in hopes of addressing some problems presented by farming. Jamil farms on land about 30 minutes out of Oakland and focuses on trying to get young black people back to the land and direct youth energy towards land work and health. Jamil provides education opportunities (check out the bio of every crop Raised Roots grows on their website) and a space not too far away from his community in Oakland for people to work with the land and connect to food production.