Individual Actions We Can All Take to Transform Food Systems
Part 4 in the Just Food System Series by Dana Geffner
Following up on her article, Pathways to Creating a Just Food System, Dana Geffner explores the barriers and opportunities to creating a just food system through this four-part series of articles, from outlining regenerative business structures to showing examples of alternative business models and alternatives to conventional shopping. In this fourth and final part of the series, she focuses on what individuals can each do to participate in transforming our food system.
We each have a stake in the game to change systemic injustices in our food systems. Following are just a few ideas to strengthen the work of the organizations, businesses, and programs I’ve spoken about in this series. They cannot do it alone; none of us can, so where and how each of us participates in the work is important.
I will be digging much deeper into all of this work in my upcoming book on celebrating grassroots organizing to transform food systems. If you are interested in keeping up to date on its publication date, please visit my website and sign up to stay in touch. In the meantime, here are some actions for all of us to consider to help transform food systems.
Education! Education! Education!
We can’t change anything if we don’t know about it. So the first step is to educate ourselves and others. Take time each week to read one article that discusses the issues around food systems. Share books and articles (like this one) on food justice with friends and family, and post on social media to help educate others.
Don’t assume a certification label has impact
Start looking at labels and learning more about what they mean. Here are some resources.
Research companies’ commitments to human- and planet-centered policy
Look for companies working on advocating for policy that impacts everyone, not just their bottom line. Find out about their governance structures and who owns them. Prioritize buying products from brands that have official policies that place people and the planet over profits.
Travel
Travel to places you would not normally go to better understand other realities and cultures. I encourage all of us to get out of our comfort zones. Look for reality tours, those that support local economies, those that work with local tour guides, and those that support local businesses and farmers. Walk through a farmers market and get the feel for where you are traveling.
Prioritize local
When going out for a meal, consider the establishment you are supporting. Many big national and global restaurants do not prioritize local farmers or sustainable production. They work with big wholesale restaurant food distributors to keep their costs down. All over the world, restaurant owners and chefs are prioritizing local farmers, seasonal produce, and fair trade ingredients. Running a restaurant is hard work, but they are taking the time to learn how crops are grown, how people are treated, and if soil is being restored. I think we can, too. Look for those restaurants in your neighborhood and when you travel. They often talk about their commitments on their menus and websites.
Be conscious of where you buy your favorite brands
Shop at cooperative grocery stores and directly from your favorite brands. Sign up for your favorite brand’s email lists; they often provide discounts if you buy directly from them. While Amazon is convenient it’s best to buy your favorite products directly from the brand so more money stays with them so they can continue on their mission. I’m guilty of going the easy route myself from time to time, but I’m trying to be more intentional about where the bulk of the money goes. Let’s keep more money in the pockets of sustainable models and communities versus lining the pockets of one of the richest men.
Visit farmers markets
Visit farmers markets in your own neighborhood and support those farmers as much as possible, talk to them, care about how they farm with questions about their land and the workers, thank them for doing the hard work to provide us with healthy food.
Be an active citizen
Participate in political systems at the local, state, and federal levels. Learn which politicians are prioritizing policies supporting farmers, workers, and the environment. Donate to them, and please don’t forget to VOTE for them! Learn more about the Farm Bill and call your congressman to tell them you want them to push for funding for small-scale organic regenerative farming.
Donate
Donate to organizations that are working on these big systemic issues around food justice. Fundraising is so difficult for nonprofits working on these issues. The funding model for this type of work is deeply broken; often, extremely laborious and unattainable goals are required, so consider donating to food justice organizations. Reference the US Food Sovereignty Alliance for ideas on where to donate. But there may be organizations locally that need our support.
Always be kind
A general rule. Be kind to farmers, small business owners, and staff (regardless of size, it’s all hard work). Don’t expect discounts or free items at smaller establishments. They can’t afford it but fear losing you as a customer if they don’t follow the rule that the customer is always right.
Again, I can not stress this enough: to transform our food systems we all need to participate by considering where we shop and eat, caring about who we are supporting with our money, and voting for politicians and policy that works for all of us, not just a few. I am inspired by the work that is happening around the world of people organizing and caring about how our food is produced. My friend Rob Everts says it as it is:
“We are in a hard space. Is this sh*t ultimately worth it, or has corporate capitalism (and now neofascist politics) essentially bought the entire system and won the day? No matter what, for our own sanity, even if you look at it as a form of resistance, I think these fights and these innovations and social entrepreneurial initiatives DO MATTER.”
I agree with him 100%!
For over two decades, Dana Geffner has worked to raise awareness of a just food system that works in solidarity with small-scale farmers and artisans, protects worker’s rights and encourages trade policy transformation that benefits people and the planet. She is co-founder of Fair World Project (FWP), an NGO based in the United States that advocates fair trade for organized small-scale farmers and labor justice for workers globally. She was the host of For A Better World, a podcast about fair trade and the farmer and worker-led movements that are fighting for equitable food and farming systems, and editor of the magazine with the same name for over 10 years. She helped to develop the Regenerative Organic Certification to help strengthen the social fairness pillar of the standard and served on the board of directors for 6 years of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. She is a co-founder and current board member of Grow Ahead, a crowdfunding platform that raises funds for farmer-led agroforestry projects to address the challenges of climate change in global south communities. She holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s Certification in Food Systems from the Berkeley Food Institute. She is now working on a book that will be published by Chelsea Green at the end of 2024 that shares tools for creating more justice in food supply chains to create a more hopeful future for us all. Her goal is to stop corporate extractive growth that is driving inequality and to participate in building a just economy for everyone.