No matter where we live or heritage we claim, we all depend on water. Water is Life.

As the headwaters for three major watersheds, Minnesota is positioned to be a leader in caring for water. As our communities make plans to live sustainably, this leadership has never been more important.

Yet today, Minnesota’s economy - every community within her borders - remains dependent on the industrial food chain. From source to table, this publicly-funded economy is unsustainable - depending on practices that contaminate and destroy ecosystems and contribute to greenhouse gases. We need an economic solution to this economic problem.

The good news is that we know what we need to do. Building on the knowledge, skills and foods generated by indigenous communities for thousands of years, we can meet the demands of water & food and climate with a regenerative economy designed to connect urban and rural communities to a common purpose-neighbors together caring for one another and the home we share. 

The Headwaters Community Food & Water Bill (HF2881/SF2940) creates an inclusive economic resiliency program designed for sustainable living and provides the crucial economic infrastructure (public investment and policies) to:

• Anchor every local economy in a robust regenerative food system (source to table food web)

• Restore the ecological foundation for sustainable living and capturing carbon 

• Establish and maintain effective partnerships between rural and urban communities (Sister cities and counties)

• Reward practices that help communities live sustainably and nurture health and well-being 

• Nurture the current and next generations of regenerative food leaders (source to table)

• Provide an economic legacy capable of sustaining this and future generations

The purpose of the economic resiliency program is to create the economic conditions capable of generating and maintaining our local capacity to source, preserve, deliver and store food within our communities. To generate capacity the program creates a set of complimentary Community Care Programs to support the food web operations. Learn more about the food web design here.

Introduction to the Headwaters Bill - Quick explanation of the rationale driving the development of the Headwaters Community Food and Water Bill.

Handy Headwaters Facts - A handy reference sheet of facts about the Headwaters Community Food and Water Bill.

Just Food and Water would like to thank those who are leading the effort to pass the Headwaters Community Food & Water Bill (HF2881/SF2940).

Latest News

• MN Senator Erin Murphy (64) included this in her March 25 District Newsletter:
  ”I am thrilled to join Representative Kaohly Her in authoring SF 1580, the Headwaters Community Food & Water Bill, that would create local food systems to directly feed communities. This legislation would provide farmers with assistance in growing healthy and diverse food that's organic and affordable, simultaneously addressing food insecurity, climate change, and racial equity.”
  Read Marita Bujold's piece about the economic resiliency this bill would provide in MinnPost to learn more.