Li Schmidt Email & Phone Number

I have over ten years of experience working in regenerative food systems. I began my career working as a produce specialist at an online grocery store and later as an apprentice at three different organic farms. This hands-on experience with food and the challenges I witnessed while working on farms led me to pursue a Master's degree.In 2017 I started my Masters of Science program at UC Davis in Community Development. As a graduate student researcher at the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP), the focus of my research was institutional food procurement of local food and the development of local wholesale buyer-farmer relationships. My thesis research focused on food justice in the California food movement through interviews and a podcast that I co-produced with the California Institute for Rural Studies. I also was a co-author on an article examining how using a justice framework changed the focus of food organizations titled "Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture" London, J. K., Cutts, B. B., Schwarz, K., Schmidt, L., & Cadenasso, M. L. (2021). In 2020, partially as a response to food insecurity experienced by my local community during COVID-19, I started a farming business called Cultural Roots Nursery. As an Asian American, I founded the nursery with the mission of healing the connection between the Asian diaspora and ancestral foodways by increasing the abundance and availability of culturally important heritage plants. In addition to selling my plants at farmers' markets and local grocery stores I also have written grants to provide free workshops for the AAPI community to access seeds, plants, and growing knowledge for culturally relevant foods. While running my business I also held a position at the California Institute for Rural Studies as an Associate Researcher and Storyteller. My work there primarily involved working on the Cal Ag Roots Podcast, a research-based podcast focused on a critical history of California agriculture that worked to co-produce episodes directly with communities to tell their own stories. I currently still run my business while working part-time at the California Farmer Justice Collaborative as a Communications Coordinator. I am passionate about working towards a better food system for all.