We envision a food and farm economy made up of networks of many local food systems comprised of community controlled, ecologically sound, and socially just food and farm enterprises.

More about the Food & Farm Program

Our food system is not well served by today’s predominant food business models, which incentivize growth, shareholder profit maximization, absentee ownership, and exploitation of resources. The ownership and governance structures of an enterprise largely determine the motivations that drive it. And the large, centralized food producers that dominate food systems today are usually owned and governed by white men and driven by financial bottom lines to the detriment of more important ends: equitable control over the food system, providing healthy food and fair economic opportunity to people working within the food system, and redressing injustice.

Systemic oppression within our food system has most negatively impacted rural communities, communities of color, and low-income communities, so our focus is on supporting these historically and currently marginalized communities to take back control over the economic engines of our food system. The cornerstone of our work is the belief that enterprises should be owned and controlled by the workers and communities who depend on them, and this is true for the food economy as much as any other sector. We believe that the right to define how local food systems are organized belong to the people who participate throughout the food chain, from the farm to the compost pile.