ABQ Fresh: Elevating Our Local Food Future

About ABQ Fresh

ABQ Fresh is part of Affordable ABQ, the City’s initiative to make everyday life more affordable for families. We are bringing together city leaders, community partners, growers, producers, distributors, and local businesses to design a stronger, more sustainable, and more affordable food system for Albuquerque.

Community input, collaborative work, and policy combine with a focus on expanding access to fresh,  healthy food, especially in undeserved neighborhoods and food deserts, while strengthening the local food economy.

We are working to craft and implement policies and programs to increase access to fresh, healthy, affordable foods for families in Albuquerque, including:

• Supporting the local food system at all levels, from local food growers and producers to local food distribution networks to local vendors and direct sales opportunities
• Permitting small-scale neighborhood markets and bodegas, and incentivizing fresh and healthy food options
• Permitting mobile food markets and incentivizing fresh and healthy food options
• Working with all sectors within the local food system to establish an equitable, resilient and sustainable food system in Albuquerque

Support ABQ Fresh

We want to hear from you to inform and supplement the implementation of Mayor Keller’s Executive Order for an affordable, equitable, sustainable, resilient, and self-reliant local food system by bringing together community leaders, local growers, small businesses, nonprofits, and City departments.

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2025 ABQ Fresh Forum

The ABQ Fresh Forum, held December 16, 2025, worked to turn policy directives into actionable strategies, pilot programs, and community partnerships that strengthen Albuquerque’s local food system—from urban agriculture to food access to composting and food rescue.

This day-long, in-person forum brought together the diverse network of stakeholders who influence or participate in Albuquerque’s local food economy, including:

• Local farmers, growers, and agricultural cooperatives
• Neighborhood leaders and community garden coordinators
• Neighborhood market owners, small retailers, and food entrepreneurs
• Food rescue, food bank, food pantry, and food service organizations and agencies
• Sustainability and composting organizations and agencies
• APS and higher education partners involved in nutrition, sustainability, agricultural, economic development and/or equity education
• Nonprofits, foundations, and residents invested in food justice, climate action, and affordability
• City of Albuquerque staff from more than a dozen departments identified in the Mayor’s Local Food System Executive Order (EO)

The forum served as a collaborative workspace, not a lecture series—prioritizing community voices, co-creation, problem-solving, and measurable next steps.

While the in-person event has ended, the forum is still active here!  Whether you were unable to join us on December 16, could only attend part of the event, or had more ideas after you left, you can still participate in the “interactives” and share your ideas, suggestions, knowledge, and experience with us.  

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the ABQ Fresh Forum, the City and community partners will have:

1. A Shared Implementation Framework:
   • Clear priorities and strategies for advancing each of the EO’s directives through cross-departmental and community partnerships.
2. Pilot Project Proposals:
   • Concrete ideas ready for early implementation—such as identifying City-owned land for community gardens and other food system-related activities, outlining a neighborhood micro-market model, and expanding surplus food rescue and composting initiatives.
3. Community-Generated Recommendations:
   • Policy and program input that informs the Local Food System City Task Force’s workplan, ensuring community participation shapes ongoing decisions.
4. New Partnerships and Resource Alignment:
   • Strengthened collaboration among City departments, nonprofits, and local businesses, and identification of funding or incentive opportunities to sustain the initiatives.
5. Momentum for Long-Term Engagement:
   • A unified commitment to making “buying local” synonymous with “buying affordable,” positioning Albuquerque as a model for resilient, equitable, urban food systems.