What We’re Up To
The Food Front is bringing Woodland’s community and local companies together through our unique initiatives.
Want to collaborate with The Food Front?
The Food Front is bringing Woodland’s community and local companies together through our unique initiatives.
Want to collaborate with The Food Front?
A proposed Northern California hub for ag innovation located just north of world-leading research at UC Davis, Woodland Research and Technology Park’s 351 acres of live / work space will further strengthen Woodland’s food and ag ecosystem.
Woodland’s AgStart incubator partnered with The Food Front and a diverse coalition of public and private funders to open The Lab@AgStart in May 2021, a state-of-the-art lab, kitchen, and co-working space in Downtown Woodland. The Lab@AgStart is the largest shared-use wet lab facility for startups in California’s entire Central Valley and the only location in Northern California with wet lab, food lab, and coworking facilities. This new space has already drawn entrepreneurs and scientists from the region and beyond to Woodland, a city leading the way for food, ag, and health innovation. In January 2023, The Lab at AgStart opened a new wing, adding fermentation and tissue culture capacities and more than doubling its lab and office space.
Interested in learning more about The Lab@AgStart or securing a lab bench?
Yolo Food Bank, in partnership with the Food Front, is launching a 2-day Global Rice Fest in October 2024. This event will celebrate the staple food that feeds many across the world while supporting those that are food insecure.
Brown Issues, the City of Woodland, and Woodland’s food and agriculture partners invited our community to celebrate its farmworkers, line workers, growers, and ranchers – the faces of The Food Front – at the second annual Yolo Farmworkers Festival in October 2023. Woodland is proud to host this family-friendly event to boost awareness of and appreciation for our food and ag industry’s workforce.
The Food Front’s unique concentration of industry partners, ideal climate, local initiatives, and education resources put us at the heart of California’s pollination industry. Woodland is working hard to make sure pollinators – and the food, business, and research they fuel – remain happy and healthy.
Woodland’s Dinner on Main, Boxwood Nursery, The Food Front initiative, and the City of Woodland partnered with local leaders to develop a community garden next to City Hall. More than a hands-on teaching tool, the garden celebrates Woodland’s rich agricultural history and ongoing commitment to responsible food and ag.
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Celebrating our region’s diverse food and ag landscape, Woodland’s Dinner on Main attracts over 500 guests for a hand-crafted meal featuring freshly picked ingredients paired with a variety of locally produced wine and beer. Farmers and growers, restaurant owners, business people, and community stakeholders partner to host an event that promotes the connection between farming, food, health, and local economies.