Why the Food System Needs More Mustangs

Mustang standing in a field in front of a futuristic agroponics system.

I have a confession to make: I am not a typical food system expert. I don’t have a degree in agriculture, nutrition, or public health. I don’t have a long history of working for a food bank, a school, or a government agency. I don’t have any fancy certifications or awards to show for my work in the field.

But I do have something that I believe is more valuable: experience. Experience that spans over 30 years, across different sectors, and in different contexts. Experience that has taught me how to solve problems, innovate solutions, and create impact. Experience that has given me a unique perspective on the food system and its challenges.

Let me tell you a bit about my background. I’m an Army veteran who served in the 90s, in charge of logistics and supply for hungry troops in the field. I learned how to source, transport, and distribute food in the most efficient and effective way possible, under the most demanding and unpredictable conditions. I learned how to adapt to changing situations, overcome obstacles, and improvise when needed.

After leaving the Army I became an entrepreneur, working in various industries and markets. I owned successful businesses, developed commercial and residential properties, and learned how to spot opportunities, manage risks, and create value. I learned how to think creatively, strategically, and pragmatically, and how to balance multiple goals and stakeholders.

Since 2015 I have been working in the nonprofit sector, focusing on reducing food waste and food insecurity. The efforts I’ve been involved in have been very different from what people are used to seeing though, because my focus has been on tackling the root causes of these challenges through market aligned strategies. I believe that the donation based system we’re using now isn’t the right path to take to solve systemic economic problems, and that merely throwing money at the problems without a sustainability and empowerment focus is a waste of time and resources.  

I developed a new type of grocery store that can cash flow in low income urban and rural communities where supermarkets cannot survive, offering affordable and healthy food options to underserved populations. This retail solution can provide consistent, 365 day a year access to healthy food while also opening a pipeline into poor communities for local growers.

I have created an educational program centered around plug-in pressure cookers and air fryers, to teach people living in converted motels and other places that lack a functional kitchen how to cook nutritious meals at home in even the most challenging situations. This also helps the millions of Americans who struggle to eat without teeth, another hidden systemic challenge that tends to sneak under the radar of those tasked with supporting nutrition.  

I have also identified several proven strategies for transforming the food donation system, by using blast chillers, industrial scale freeze dryers, and other smart technologies that are traditionally only used in the manufacturing side, to safely freeze or freeze dry the food so it can be transported and stored for weeks or even months, instead of having to rush it to a recipient the same day.  I figured out how to make that process profitable, so now we can seek investor funds as well as grant and foundation money. This improves our ability to scale and replicate successes.

These are just some of the examples of the innovative work I have done in the food system, and the solutions that I hope to pursue to support food equity and justice in Colorado and beyond. I am proud of what I have accomplished, and I am eager to share my insights and ideas with others who are working on the same issues.

I have also faced a lot of resistance, skepticism, and misunderstanding from established players in the field. They don’t see what I see, and they don’t understand the significance of the strategies I have developed. Some dismiss my experience as irrelevant, or even detrimental, to the food system. Others question my credibility, my authority, and my motives.  Potential collaborators and partners often ignore, reject, or undermine my proposals, without giving them a fair chance.

Why is this happening?

I believe it is because of a fundamental gap in the way we view and value different types of knowledge and expertise in the food system. We tend to favor formal education over informal learning, academic credentials over practical skills, and conventional wisdom over unconventional thinking. We tend to judge people by their titles, their degrees, and their affiliations, rather than by their actions, their achievements, and their impacts. We tend to stick to our silos, our comfort zones, and our assumptions, rather than reaching out, exploring, and challenging ourselves.

This is a problem, not only for me, but for the food system as a whole. Because by doing this, we are missing out on a huge source of potential innovation, collaboration, and transformation. We are overlooking the people who have the most to offer, the most to teach, and the most to contribute. We are limiting our vision, our options, and our solutions.

We need to change this. We need to recognize and appreciate the diversity of knowledge and expertise that exists in the food system, and the value that each one brings. We need to embrace and encourage the people who have different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and the insights and ideas that they generate. We need to learn from and work with the people who have proven themselves through their actions, their results, and their impacts, regardless of their credentials, their affiliations, or their reputations.

We need more Mustangs in the food system.

What are mustangs? In the Army, they are the officers who started as enlisted soldiers, and then after several years moved on to finish college and become officers. Mustangs are a rare breed, who have both practical experience and theoretical knowledge, operational skills and strategic vision, respect of the troops and the trust of commanders. They are the ones who can bridge the gap between the different levels, the different functions, and the different cultures in the military. They are the ones who can lead, inspire, and innovate.

I consider myself to be the food system version of a mustang. I have the experience of working in different sectors, different markets, and different contexts. I have the knowledge of how to source, transport, and distribute food in the most efficient and effective way possible. I have the skills of how to solve problems, innovate solutions, and create impact.

More importantly, I have a vision of how to transform the way we deal with food waste, retail access and education for the better, based on a decades-long understanding of the mechanisms, processes, and relationships that make up our food system.

As a person with disabilities who has for decades - and still does - struggle with self-care in the kitchen, I also have a perspective on what barriers to food security look and feel like. This helps me to empathize and engineer solutions that address often hidden difficulties that many people with extra barriers go through day after day to maintain a healthy diet.

I am not the only mustang. There are many others like me, who have similar or different experiences, knowledge, skills, and vision, that are relevant and valuable to the food system. They may be farmers, chefs, retailers, distributors, processors, manufacturers, consumers, or activists. They may have worked in the food system for a long time, or just recently entered it. They may have formal education, or self-taught learning. They may have conventional or unconventional ideas. They may be well-known or obscure. They may be in your organization, or outside of it. 

They are the mustangs of the food system. And they are waiting for you – key leaders in government, nonprofits, and private sector - to recognize them, to listen to them, to learn from them, to work with them, and to support them.

Why should you do this? Because they have something that you need: experience. Experience that can help to understand the food system with a wider lens, to see opportunities and challenges more clearly, and to find solutions that might have been missed by those who may be too close to the problem to see the paths forward. Experience that can help you innovate, collaborate, and transform the food system for the better.

If we want to solve the complex and urgent problems that we face in the food system, such as food waste and food insecurity, and to create a just and equitable food system, we cannot rely on the same old approaches, the same old people, and the same old thinking. We need to look for new ways, new people, and new thinking. We need to look for mustangs.

They are out there. They are ready. They are waiting for you.

Are you ready to join them?