Thirty-five nonprofit programs across Marin County will receive funds to support all dimensions of Marin food systems, ranging from school and community gardens to prescribed fire on working lands and countywide food security planning.
Through the Food, Agriculture and Resilient Ecosystems grant program, competitive matching grants are provided to selected applicants throughout Marin to support sustainable food systems, climate-beneficial agriculture management, school and community gardens and improvement of natural resource values on working lands.
Following recommendations from the Parks and Open Space Commission, the Marin County Board of Supervisors allocated more than $1.41 million in competitive matching grants from the FARE program during the board’s April 14 meeting.
The source of the funding is Marin County Parks Measure A, a quarter-cent countywide sales tax passed by voters in 2022. By local ordinance,
a portion of the revenue generated by the Marin Parks, Open Space and Sustainable Agriculture Transactions and Use Tax Ordinance must be used to support sustainable food systems.
Parks staff received 47 applications requesting nearly $4.3 million in fall 2025 from groups looking to address food systems needs through the FARE program. Examining needs through an equity lens, Marin County Parks workeD with the Marin Food Policy Council, the Marin Community Foundation and the Marin County Healthy Eating Active Living Collaborative to identify new opportunities to assist those in need.
Parks staff also worked with its own County of Marin teammates – the Office of Equity, the Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures, the UC Cooperative Extension and the Department of Health and Human Services — and listened to community input throughout the process. The county’s Race Equity Budget Tool was utilized as well.
Heading into this second round of FARE funding, Marin County Parks’ Kevin Wright said the county is seeing progress in areas important to Marin County residents.
“Over the past three years, FARE is supporting a record number of local gardens, and a wider variety of food is becoming available to communities through local kitchens and markets,” said Wright, government and external affairs manager. “FARE is helping new farmers grow food locally and more residents are experiencing farming and land stewardship activities.”
Measure A funding for FARE is projected to total $4.8 million, or $800,000 annually, over the next six years. The application period for this round of FARE grants was mid-July through mid-September 2025. All FARE proposals must include a matching contribution — any combination of funds or in-kind resources, such as volunteer time or donated goods. There is no minimum amount or proportion for matching contributions.
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