Building Regional Food System Resilience
Amid overlapping challenges — including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruptions, and extreme weather events like heatwaves, wildfire, and drought — CLIMAS researchers conducted a rapid assessment to understand the impacts of these stressors on Southern Arizona’s food system. The study underscored the importance of building relationships, identifying solutions grounded in local context, and creating community-based alternatives when conventional systems fail. Local organizations have applied findings from this project to restructure their priorities and support new initiatives, including the development of a water utility program that helps small-scale urban farmers lower costs and enhance food security across the City of Tucson.
"CLIMAS brings expertise that I don’t have. It allowed this project to flourish in a way that just wouldn't have been possible otherwise. And it was a real partnership as opposed to an extractive research project. As somebody who has been at the grassroots level in the community for a long time, I was able to provide connections and help deepen relationships. But I didn't have all the knowledge and expertise around research. Gigi helped us develop fantastic discussion guides for our focus groups and to understand how to ask questions that would result in what we wanted to know from community members. If we hadn't had that partnership, it wouldn’t have happened with the same level of precision and thoroughness. And we had a lot of fun, which is not something you always get to experience on a project."
–Shelby Thompson, Pima County Food Alliance
CLIMAS Lead: Gigi Owen
Research Team: Kacy Bartels, Laurel Bellante, Anvi Bhakta, Chris Destiche, Rachel Gildersleeve, Karrington Hamilton, Amanda Hilton, Tommey Jodie, Eden Kinkaid, Rachel Leih, Sean Maccabe, Sarah Renkert, Jen Thorn, Rachel Zollinger
Partners: Pima County Food Alliance
Publications
Bhakta, A., K. Bartels, R. Gildersleeve, G. Owen, R. Leih, S. Thompson, L. Bellante, A. Hilton. (2024). Community Priorities for Food System Action in Pima County, Arizona: Report of Interview and Focus Group Findings. Food Systems Research Lab and Climate Assessment for the Southwest, University of Arizona.
Gildersleeve, R., Leih, R., Owen, G., Thompson, S., Bhakta, A., Bartels, K., Bellante, L., & Hilton, A. (2024). Considerations for a More Sustainable and Equitable Organizational Structure for the Pima County Food Alliance: Report of Interview and Focus Group Findings. Food Systems Research Lab and Climate Assessment for the Southwest, University of Arizona.
Leih, R., R. Gildersleeve. (2023). Cultivating Equitable Food Policy in Pima County. Fall 2023 Research Brief. Pima County Food Alliance.
Bellante, L., Carney, M., & Owen, G. (2022). Leveraging university resources to build awareness, support regional food policy, and disrupt dominant narratives guiding food-based development: Examples from University of Arizona’s Center for Regional Food Studies. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.017
Owen, G., E. Kinkaid, L. Bellante, S. Maccabe. (2021). State of the Tucson Food System Report: Assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Arizona 2020-2021. Center for Regional Food Studies, University of Arizona.
Owen, G., E. Kinkaid, L. Bellante, S. Maccabe. (2021). Executive Summary: State of the Tucson Food System Report, Assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Arizona, 2020-2021. University of Arizona.
Media
Food Systems: Pandemics, Equity, and the Future. 2022. Mrs. Green’s World Podcast.
UArizona research shows perseverance in Tucson food industry. 2021, KGUN 9 News.
State of the food system: The pandemic impacts restaurants, food security. 2021. KOLD News 13.
Kinkaid, E., G. Owen, L. Bellante. 2021. Tucson Opinion: COVID-19 impacts demonstrate why Southern Arizona needs more farmers. Arizona Daily Star.