Sustainable Food Systems
To spread awareness about sustainable food systems, Andrea successfully launched public relations initiatives focused on impactful gardening methods, composting techniques, and native plant propagation efforts for large-scale river restoration projects.
Grow Your Own Food Movement
Creating robust local food systems is key to communities achieving a more sustainable way of living as governments look for solutions to fight climate change. To start, growing local food reduces carbon emissions by not having to transport fruits and vegetables from far distances. Plus, farmers can control how their food is grown and choose organic methods that are better for the soil and environment. Choosing natural products over chemicals, and making aligned choices that follow sustainable gardening practices are fundamental steps to keeping the planet healthy.
With a passion for health, Andrea has engaged in numerous community projects that highlighted sustainable food systems. Her work has been recognized at the local, state, and federal levels. And part of her freelance writing work focuses on sustainable gardening. You can find the link to her writing portfolio by clicking on the button above.
High Tunnels
Food Box Program
Andrea has successfully managed and launched sustainability-driven grant projects centered around food security and the benefits community gardens provide. For example, she did public relations work for a USDA food box program in Northwestern California. It had a core focus to serve and feed low-income communities in a three-county region with prepared food boxes filled with fresh produce grown from a tribal community garden and goods given by local farmers. During the project, Andrea highlighted the benefits of keeping food local and showed how high tunnel food production can help communities grow food year-round for important initiatives like the Food Box program.
Through digital marketing efforts, Andrea has illustrated the value of different growing methods on farms like using high tunnels to double crop yields. Through impactful copywriting, Andrea helped promote and write content about the agricultural process - she focused on website copy, written press releases, and social media copy. For example, part of the grant requirement for the hight tunnels project involved providing internships to students interested in learning about how to farm and garden with them. Andrea’s copywriting and content naturally reached qualified candidates on social media who signed up based on the interest the posts generated.
Community Food Systems
Farm stands can bring tremendous value to a community by improving people’s health and educating urban neighborhoods about where their food comes from. Andrea helped launch a community farm stand in a tribal community. She successfully increased attendance by leveraging digital channels to inform people about when it was open and what fresh produce people could buy from local farmers.
The programming was well-received by the greater region and viewed as a positive step in strengthening food security in a rural area.
Composting Systems
To illustrate the benefits composting has on the environment, Andrea launched a demonstrative marketing campaign that showcased the different composting methods and how they work. Part of the content touched on composting coffee grounds, and how the nitrogren-rich material can later be used as valuable soil amendment when gardening. Another topic touched on included overall food waste reduction, and how composting keeps food scraps out of landfills. The videos were shared on social media and used to fulfill grant requirements for the project. Press also picked up the story based on interest and marketing.
Virtual Presentations
During the peak of the pandemic when meeting in-person was not an option, Andrea helped create video presentations that went over sustainable gardening projects. The videos were shared during video conferences that thousands of people attended. Later on, some of the videos were used as a way to showcase grant deliverables had been met.