What does an equitable, restorative food system really look like?
This ongoing inquiry serves as the foundation for many of our conversations and collaborations.
Beyond immediate community food access programs, our ultimate goal is creating meaningful systemic change in regional food systems & policies. We envision community food and infrastructure hubs at the core of a localized, resilient, and nourishing food system, where all people have equitable and secure access to locally grown & produced foods. We see many people becoming skilled in land regeneration, water conservation, and farming, as well as having access to resources needed to create food security from the soil up.
By creating a successful model for adaptation and replication throughout New Mexico, we can provide the education, shared resources and advocacy needed to achieve this. This includes policy work, the sharing of knowledge and agricultural infrastructure, increasing access to food waste diversion programs, improving desert soil health, and increasing fresh local food access statewide.
This ongoing inquiry serves as the foundation for many of our conversations and collaborations.
Beyond immediate community food access programs, our ultimate goal is creating meaningful systemic change in regional food systems & policies. We envision community food and infrastructure hubs at the core of a localized, resilient, and nourishing food system, where all people have equitable and secure access to locally grown & produced foods. We see many people becoming skilled in land regeneration, water conservation, and farming, as well as having access to resources needed to create food security from the soil up.
By creating a successful model for adaptation and replication throughout New Mexico, we can provide the education, shared resources and advocacy needed to achieve this. This includes policy work, the sharing of knowledge and agricultural infrastructure, increasing access to food waste diversion programs, improving desert soil health, and increasing fresh local food access statewide.
Immediate and long-term examples of our work include:
- Offering Double Up Food Bucks, WIC, Senior FMNP, and FreshRX food access programs at our farm stand
- Ongoing fresh food donations to families served by the SF Refugee Collaborative, SF Indigenous Center, SFPS Adelante, Many Mothers, and more
- Maintenance and stocking of a free 24/7 access no-questions-asked community fridge
- Serving on the Santa Fe Food Policy Council
- Working with Santa Fe County and community collectives to lease desertified land for collaborative land regeneration and young farmer training
- A detailed open-source compost systems manual written and published with Quivira Coalition
- Statewide compost trainings taught with the New Mexico Recycling Coalition
- Annual hands-on field trips to thousands of local students ranging from Pre-K to High School
Some of our 2022 program achievements:
Our Story
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Reunity Resources was founded in 2011 with the intention to create closed loop systems that turn waste into value.
We began with a small biodiesel program, collecting used cooking oil from a few local restaurants, converting it into fuel and re-distributing it. With consistent good service, we expanded our network until our revenues allowed the purchase of the necessary equipment and the salary of one staff person. The commitment that a venture in sustainability should be financially sustainable has shaped the organization’s growth ever since. With the successful growth of the BioFuel Collective, we began the advocacy work for food waste diversion. |
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In January 2013, we met with the City of Santa Fe’s Director of Solid Waste. We pitched our big idea to begin a commercial food scraps collection program. She said, politely and professionally, no. Since then, we have proven ourselves and built alliances with the City, County and many community organizations. In April of 2014, we began our commercial food waste collection program and have since diverted over 5 million pounds of food scraps from the landfill. At first, following our sustainable growth model in which we “test before we invest,” we provided the education and hauling for a food waste diversion program while bringing the material to another processor. Once we knew this portion of the program could support itself, we wondered if we could use an innovative system to compost the food waste ourselves into a premium compost.
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In January 2015, we signed a lease with the Santa Fe Community Farm, operating on an unused and non-arable acre of land: part of our agreement was to donate our high quality compost to the farm which then donated the food it raised to local hunger efforts. Here, we launched our unique Aerated Static Pile system to compost food waste and green waste, adding another step to our circular programming and increasing our size to four staff members.
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In 2018, with the passing of its founder, the Santa Fe Community Farm closed its doors, and Reunity Resources received its torch and legacy to carry forward. That first interim year meant much community listening and research (while still growing and donating 10,837 pounds to local hunger efforts while hosting over 800 volunteers), and in 2019, the farm, now Reunity Farm, is expanded its community programming and began re-invigorating the land with regenerative agriculture. We are working hard with collaborators including other hunger-relief non-profits, city and county government, restaurant partners and other local farms to ensure that local food can continue to be grown, harvested and prepared, and that community members who need it most have access.
Thank you for supporting our community impact.
We look forward to seeing you on the farm!
We look forward to seeing you on the farm!