Sustainable Agriculture & Food (SAF) Fellows Program

About the Sustainable Agriculture & Food Fellows Program

The Sustainable Agriculture & Food (SAF) Fellows Program provides students an opportunity to contribute to the goals and priorities of the UC Global Food Initiative. This fellowship opportunity allows students to play a key role in efforts to increase food security, health, and sustainability. The program, which began in fall 2014, is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, and administered at each location to ensure that student efforts align with local needs.

Previously known as the Global Food Initiative Fellows, the SAF Fellows program and the Climate Action Fellows (CAF) program were recently reorganized under the Bonnie Reiss Leading on Climate Initiative. Together these two fellowship opportunties support support climate action and sustainable food efforts across the University.

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Fellow Project Areas

Project Fellows can work on projects related to advancing sustainable agriculture and the University’s sustainable food goals. Potential projects areas include, but are not limited to:

  •  Aligning definitions and reporting of sustainable and plant-based food procurement.
  • Conducting data collection and analysis of current institutional food procurement.
  • Investigating opportunities for increasing sustainable food on campus or local food pantries.
  • Working directly with food service procurement and operations staff to identify challenges and potential solutions related to increasing sustainable food procurement.
  • Identifying the cost differences associated with switching to sustainable suppliers to meet the UC’s sustainable food procurement goal and how it may impact menu planning.
  • Completing or auditing the food service annual reporting for the systemwide Sustainability Annual Report.
  • Developing case studies on sustainable food procurement actions taken by locations.
  • Preparing grant submissions to support sustainable food priorities.
  • Implementing sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices at a campus or community farm. 

 

Considering applying?  You may also be interested in our other fellowship opportunity - Climate Action Fellows Program. Click here for more information.

Program Details and Application Materials

Leading on Climate Student Fellowship Program Guidelines and Responsibilities 2024-25

UC Davis SAF Fellows Program - Call for Applications

  • Updated annually, this call for applications describes specific projects available for selected Sustainable Agriculture & Food (SAF) Fellows.
SAF Fellows Program Application Form
  • This Application Form must accompany the application submitted on Handshake. 

Fellowship Benefits

  • Fellows are each awarded $5000, distributed incrementally during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters

Eligibility

  • Graduate and undergaduate students are eligible.
  • Full-time enrolled UC Davis students in good academic standing.
  • Applications will be reviewed on the basis of several applicant characteristics, including but not limited to commitment to and familiarity with sustainable agriculture and food principles, collaborative spirit, demonstrated ability to contribute to a team, likelihood to successfully accomplish fellowship project goals, maturity, and attention to detail.
  • International students are eligible, though special accommodations may need to be made regarding financial award eligibility

 

  • NEW! 2024-25 SAF Fellows Project Overview

  • Project Title: SHDS Sustainable Food Procurement

    Supervisor: Chamayo Yniquez, Director of Operations, Student Housing & Dining Services (SHDS)

    Project Description: The Sustainable Agriculture & Food (SAF) Fellows Program gives students the chance to advance sustainability goals by tackling one of the biggest areas of waste and climate impact – food! UC Davis has an ambitious sustainable food purchasing goal – By 2030 25% of Davis campus and 30% of Health campus food service spending must be for sustainable food products. SAF Fellows will make this goal possible by systematically assessing our food systems databases to identify ways to speed up progress towards this goal and make sure we’re accurately assessing the sustainability of our current purchases. 
    This is a new position to SHDS; the challenges will include defining the scope, and processes of evaluating sustainable purchases and the fellow in this position will be highly involved in creating the standard operation procedures and developing and documenting the Knowledge Base for this position. 

    A successful fellowship outcome would be that SHDS has accurately identified the sustainable attributes of all current and future food procurement. This will allow the UC Davis SHDS to accurately identify and report their progress towards the 25% sustainable spend goal. Once this critical step has been established, this work will allow current or future Fellows to implement projects in other relevant areas of sustainability.

To apply:

  1. Apply to Handshake Job #9187311

  2. Include in your application each of the following documents. Please be sure to upload each document in PDF format, labeled with a descriptive filename that includes your last name and the contents of the document. For example “[YOURLASTNAME]_SAF_Application_Form”

    • SAF Fellows Program Application form
    • Current resume or CV
    • Current advising transcripts (an official transcript is NOT required
    • Work Sample. A 1-2 page work sample that demonstrates writing, communication skills, creativity skills, and/or organizational skills relevant to this position. This work sample may be something produced for a course, previous employer, or other professional context.

Application deadline revised. 

Application review begins Monday, September 16 and continues until all positions are filled OR until Tuesday, October 15.

Questions? If you have questions, please contact: Carla Fresquez ccfresquez@ucdavis.edu