Food, Sustainability, and the Future

Rachel Bair is the Director for Sustainable Food Systems at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, where she has led the development of programming that focuses on sustainability and community economic development in the food system, including the launch and growth of the ValleyHUB food hub at the Food Innovation Center. Prior to her role at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Rachel worked in the nonprofit sector as the director of the statewide Double Up Food Bucks program, which matches SNAP benefits spent on healthy Michigan-grown foods. Rachel earned her bachelor’s in Biology from Northwestern University, followed by a master’s of Public Health and Master of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. Rachel works with food because it is a great tool for building connections—within communities, and between people and the Earth that sustains us—and I’m looking forward to learning more throughout the conversation today!