foodtank
2018 was a great year for Food Tank. We hosted ground-breaking Summits, innovative events, and global discussions about the food system in Senegal, Italy, Russia, and across the United States. We published the book Nourished Planet, and met many of our members and readers in person! And we started the Food Talk podcast.
We’re excited about 2019! Our plans are amazing, starting our greatest expansion ever—including new Summits, more podcasts, special events, and an off-Broadway play. If you are not already, it’s not too late to become a member this year and support our mission of bringing all sides to the table.
To start off the year, we’ve compiled a list of 119 organizations to keep an eye on in 2019 that are working towards a more sustainable food system. Happy New Year!
Acre Venture Partners is a venture capital fund investing in the future of food by offering financial support to start-ups in health, nutrition, or food-focused tech companies. Co-Founded by Jeffrey Dunn and featuring partner Sam Kass, Acre seeks to redefine good food across the food value chain.
2. AgFunder
AgFunder is an online investment marketplace that both allows venture capitalists to invest in new technologies and invites agricultural companies to seek out investors who back their product. The platform has helped companies around the world raise the money needed to transform the food and agriculture industries, with the support of over 50,000 members and subscribers.
3. American Farmland Trust (AFT)
AFT began after farmers and conservationists in 1980 discussed how developing arable farmland would impact the food supply. Today, AFT is dedicated to protecting farmland, those who work on it, and the environment through sound agricultural practices. AFT’s report “Farms Under Threat: The State of America’s Farmland” exposes the rate at which America’s farmland is disappearing.
Located in the Middle East, The Arava Institute is an academic hub for those looking to research and solve the most pressing environmental concerns of the day. The Arava Institute has five transboundary research centers, including the Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Center for Hyper-Arid Socio-Ecology. The Centers are dedicated to the investigation and preservation of arid lands and their natural resources across the Middle East.
5. Arcadia Center for Food and Agriculture
Based in Alexandria, VA, this nonprofit fosters equity and sustainability in the Washington, D.C. area food system through a multi-faceted operation. Arcadia Farm promotes sustainable growing practices, serves as an educational site for farmers and students, and increases access to local, healthy food through programs like the Mobile Market.
Based in Alexandria, VA, this nonprofit fosters equity and sustainability in the Washington, D.C. area food system through a multi-faceted operation. Arcadia Farm promotes sustainable growing practices, serves as an educational site for farmers and students, and increases access to local, healthy food through programs like the Mobile Market.
In partnership with Cal Poly Pomona’s College of the Extended University, Archi’s Acres leads Archi’s Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, an agricultural training program intended for military veterans located on an organic hydroponic produce operation in Escondido, California. The Institute acts as an agricultural entrepreneurial incubator program where participating military veterans receive a unique education in food production, business management, and sustainable agriculture.
7. Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN)
BCFN’s goal is to foster an open dialogue about the well-being of the world’s population and promote change. Since 2009 they have rigorously studied the link between nutrition and the environment, launching a Double Pyramid highlighting that lower environmental impact foods are often those which are highly nutritious and vice versa. Their Young Earth Solutions (BCFN YES!) program encourages young people to develop innovative solutions to problems within the global food system. They partnered with Food Tank to publish Nourished Planet in 2018. In partnership with the Thomas Reuters Foundation, BCFN launched the Food Sustainability Media Award, recognizing journalists shedding light on the issues of sustainability, nutrition, and food security.
The Berry Good Food Foundation works to advance a healthy, integrated food system by educating, connecting, and supporting food producers and consumers. They host a series of video-recorded multidisciplinary panels and coordinate hands-on classes that empower people to maximize their food budgets and minimize food waste through old-world skills with modern relevance.
9. Big Green
Founded in 2011 by Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson, Big Green aims to build a healthier future for children across America by building gardens at scale: intended to be gathering locations and plots for learning, the gardens include modular, raised beds, seating, and shade. Big Green currently reaches over 250,000 children around the country each day, bringing fresh, real food directly to low-income communities.
Bioversity International gathers scientific evidence, management practices, and policy options to support agricultural biodiversity as a way to protect the health of people and the planet. As a CGIAR Research Center, Bioversity International works with partners across South America, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia to improve nutrition, farmer resilience, productivity, and climate change adaptation.
11. Black Urban Growers Association
Black Urban Growers maintains a network and community support in order to foster Black leadership in food and farm advocacy. Their programs include the Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference, a national conference started in 2010 that brings together Black farmers, advocates, chefs, and communities to share their best practices and leadership efforts.
This humanitarian organization fights global poverty and provides emergency disaster relief. CARE’s community-based efforts, focused particularly on women as a means for entire communities to escape poverty, include improving basic education, preventing the spread of disease, increasing access to clean water and sanitation, expanding economic opportunity, and protecting natural resources.
This public interest and environmental organization challenges harmful food production technologies and promotes sustainable alternatives. They use a variety of strategies and tools, including legal support for sustainable agriculture and food safety constituencies, public education efforts, grassroots organizational and media outreach, and litigation and legal petitions.
14. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
CIFOR hopes to create a world in which forests are high on the political agenda and evidence-based decisions are made in order to protect the forests and the needs of forest-dependent people. Their work enhances environmental conservation and human wellbeing—and promotes equity through research that aids businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations.
Chef Ann Cooper founded the Chef Ann Foundation with the vision to empower schools to provide children with access to nutritious food daily. The organization supports schools by leading grant programs and providing schools with tools they may need to improve their food programs in an effort to alleviate kids’ hunger and improve nutrition.
16. Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ)
CAGJ is a grassroots, membership-based organization based in Seattle, WA that works to transform the global economy. CAGJ activists work in solidarity with social movements in developing regions to battle against economic models established by corporations, governments and other institutions and build up the power of alternatives that support a just world. Their work focuses on globalization’s impacts on food, from sustainable agriculture to immigration and labor rights.
The Community for Zero Hunger is an independent initiative that identifies specific priorities, knowledge, experiences, and sustainable solutions in the challenge to end hunger. In addition, they provide a collaborative platform for governments, research organizations, and NGOs to support the United Nations (UN) Zero Hunger Challenge.
18. Compost Cab
Compost Cab hopes to transform Washington D.C.’s urban food system, making it easier for people to compost. Compost Cab collects household compost, works with organizations to initiate their own composting programs, and partners with local farms, agencies, and organizations to create a more sustainable city-wide food system.
19. Crop Trust
The Crop Trust is an international nonprofit organization working to fund the conservation of crop diversity in order to protect global food security. It supports the operations of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, helps finance crop conservation activities in genebanks around the world—including those in several developing countries—and supports the collection, conservation and use of crop wild relatives.
In addition to the 3 million free meals they deliver annually for homeless shelters, schools, and nonprofits, D.C. Central Kitchen offers a culinary job training program for individuals facing unemployment, previous incarceration, or homelessness. The training program prepares students to receive their food handler’s license and enter careers in the food service industry, featuring local chefs who volunteer to train students in basic culinary skills.
21. DC Food Policy Council (DCFPC)
DCFPC brings together government representatives, food experts, and other stakeholders to create a sustainable and equitable food system for the city. Working toward the Sustainable DC Plan, DCFPC collects and analyzes data on food equity, promotes positive food policies, and helps organizations improve their impact on the food economy. DCFPC also alerts citizens about acts and legislation that arises, explaining why the policy matters and potential outcomes.
DOL works toward a more equitable food system, centering their approach around entrepreneurship and workforce development in urban agriculture and farmers markets. In addition to offering programs designed to foster economic opportunity, DOL engages in food policy advocacy in Washington, D.C. DOL recently completed a year at The Farm, a public-private urban agriculture project providing students with fresh produce and experience in growing space.
23. EAT Foundation
The EAT Foundation works to transform the global food system to achieve a future where healthy and sustainable food is affordable, accessible, and attractive to all. They connect leaders and innovators across disciplines to close knowledge gaps, translate research results into action plans, scale up solutions, raise awareness, and create engagement.
24. Ecotrust
Ecotrust partners with communities and organizations across the Northwest to help transform ideas into action. With programs including farm to school advocacy, resource restoration, community rebuilding, and more, Ecotrust aims to supply communities with economic opportunity, social equity, and environmental well-being.
Ecovia Intelligence (formerly Organic Monitor) publishes research reports, conducts business research, and offers sustainability consulting to support sustainable options in multiple industries, including the global ethical product industry. Ecovia Intelligence encourages sustainable development across multiple clients including government departments, institutes, organizations, start-ups, and more. Their programs include sustainability summits that bring together leading organizations with sustainability goals and missions in their respective industries.
26. Edible Manhattan
Edible Manhattan is a part of the family of Edible Communities magazines. The magazine features local food and drink makers, restaurants, events, and markets. In addition, the publication hosts its own events, including the 2018 Food Loves Tech event, exploring the future of food and drink, and Edible Escape, which showcases globally-inspired food prepared by local chefs.
27. Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG is a team of scientists, policy experts, lawyers, communication experts, and programmers advocating for the health of people and the planet. EWG empowers consumers to make better decisions about the products they buy, and the impact they have on the planet, through reports, online databases, apps and more.
Fairtrade America works to redesign the international trade system, focusing on small-scale farmers and workers in developing countries. By growing demand for Fairtrade products, certifying foods with the FAIRTRADE Mark, and setting international standards and minimum prices, Fairtrade America aims to alter power imbalances in the economy.
29. Familias Unidas por la Justicia
Familias Unidas por la Justicia, formed in 2013, is the first new farm worker union in the United States in a quarter-century and the first union in Washington State led by indigenous workers. In June 2017 union officials representing Mixteco and Triqui members signed a contract with Sakuma Bros Berry Farm that bargained for fair hourly wages, non-discrimination, and procedures for resolving disputes.
30. Family Farming Knowledge Platform
The Family Farming Knowledge Platform by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN gathers information on global family farming—including national laws and regulations, public policies, best practices, and research—to provide necessary knowledge to policymakers, leading organizations, and activists.
31. Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)
Started by Baldemar Velasquez, who grew up in a migrant farmworker family, FLOC represents thousands of seasonal farm workers, advocating for better working conditions and wages. FLOC achieved monumental gains such as the first tri-party contract in agriculture after a successful boycott and march against Campbell Soup.
32. Feedback
Feedback is revealing the unpalatable truth of food waste, putting it at the top of political and corporate agendas. Their mix of research and grassroots campaigns empower positive change in the food system and invoke action towards regenerating nature.
33. Feeding America
Feeding America is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs fighting to end hunger. The organization provides assistance to one in seven Americans, including 12 million children, and studies the causes and impacts of food insecurity in America. Feeding America prioritizes food security, safety, nutrition, and recovery.
34. Fields Oceans Ranches Kitchens Stewards (FORKS)
Sponsored by the nonprofit Seattle Good Business Network, this volunteer organization engages chefs in promoting local and sustainable food purchasing. FORKS also hosts events such as The Farmer-Fisher-Chef Connection, a large convening of food industry players in Washington State.
Food & Water Watch aims to combat corporations that put profits before people and advocates for a democracy that improves people’s lives while protecting our environment. The organization works to build a grassroots movement to hold governments and corporations accountable for their actions that affect food and water systems.
Food + Tech Connect is a hub for technological innovation in the good food movement. Through media, events, and more, they connect every corner of the food industry, inspiring collaboration and the sharing of best practices to build a better food future.
37. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
The FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to achieve food security for all. The FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide, working toward goals to set international standards for food safety and justice, eradicate food and water related diseases around the world, and limit global hunger. The FAO also works to unite organizations seeking a zero-hunger society, creating a network of action around the world.
38. Food Chain Workers Alliance
The Food Chain Workers Alliance brings together 31 organizations involved in the food system working to improve wages and working conditions for their over 340,000 workers. They fight to build a more just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable food system that protects and respects the rights of all workers along the food chain.
39. Food Corps
FoodCorps is making waves in youth engagement, changing attitudes around food in over 500 schools across 17 states and Washington, D.C. They encourage members’ collaboration with teachers, community leaders, and schools to provide children with knowledge of food and nutrition; engagement in hands-on food activities, like gardening; and access to nutritious, locally-sourced meals.
The Food Innovation Program is an advanced Master’s Program by the Future Food Institute is for aspiring food innovators and entrepreneurs. The program includes a comprehensive academic course in Italy; a global tour of Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and other urban centers; and a concluding session of laboratory training and prototyping in Italy.
FPA was established in 2012 through a collaboration of national food policy leaders in order to hold legislators accountable on votes that have an effect on food and farming. Through an annual National Food Policy Scorecard, FPA tracks members of Congress as they vote on and sponsor bills related to a range of food issues—to support and educate a better informed voting public.
42. Food Recovery Network (FRN)
Since its inception in 2011, FRN has rescued more than 3.2 million pounds of food and has a presence on 230 college campuses across the United States. Food Recovery Network empowers students, communities, and food businesses to reconstruct their perceptions and habits around surplus food.
Food Rescue Locator offers a directory of organizations in the United States that rescue, glean, transport, prepare, and distribute food to the those in need in their communities. These food rescue programs play an important role in feeding the hungry and in the reduction of food waste.
44. Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Launched by the UN in 2002, GAIN is an international organization working to end malnutrition within this lifetime. They focus their efforts on children and women, while building alliances between businesses, government, and civil society to deliver programs in 29 countries and help reduce malnutrition globally.
45. Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF)
Formed in 2012, GAFF is a collaboration of over 20 philanthropic foundations that envisions healthy, equitable, renewable, resilient, and culturally diverse food and agricultural systems. GAFF leverages resources and knowledge of each philanthropic foundation to develop frameworks for a better food system.
46. Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)
GFAR is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder global forum on agricultural research and innovation. GFAR’s mission is to mobilize all stakeholders involved in agricultural research and innovation systems for development to catalyze actions toward alleviating poverty, increasing food security, and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources.
47. GrowNYC
GrowNYC provides free tools and services for New Yorkers to help improve access to fresh, healthy local food. In addition to a network of farmers’ markets and fresh food organizations, GrowNYC builds and rejuvenates community and school gardens and delivers environmental stewardship programs to more than 30,000 children each year.
48. GrubTubs
GrubTubs began in Austin, TX to redefine food waste as an economic opportunity rather than an economic loss and disrupt food, energy, and waste systems across the United States. Instead of heading to the landfill, the food they collect from restaurants is repurposed by local farmers into sustainable and affordable animal feed.
49. Hacienda Community Development Corporation (Hacienda CDC)
Hacienda CDC works in Oregon helping to provide not only affordable housing, but also youth and family services, homeownership education, and economic opportunity. Hacienda CDC has built housing communities on four vacant lots and renovated one apartment complex—creating housing communities such as one for farm workers in Molalla, OR. Additionally, Hacienda CDC has created a Latino Market for emerging food entrepreneurs.
50. The HAPPY Org
HAPPY—Happy Active Positive Purposeful Youth—is a youth-led organization that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and social health issues they face today. They equip kids and their families with the resources, skills, and information to takes responsibility for their own health and confidently embrace nutritious and affordable food. Founded by Haile Thomas, the organization brings fun and engaging programs to schools, camps, and communities to engage youth in nutrition.
51. Harlem Grown
Harlem Grown is an independent nonprofit organization based in Harlem, New York City, providing hands-on education to youth in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. Harlem Grown also works to renovate abandoned lots into urban farms and increase education and access to healthy food for Harlem residents.
52. Humanitas Global
Humanitas Global Development’s initiatives seek to make development beneficial for all communities, bringing about social, humanitarian, and environmental progress worldwide. Their approach encourages local participation, community knowledge, national and international support, and accountability through evaluation tools as key components toward successful development. The organization has led food and nutrition security projects in countries including El Salvador and Guatemala.
53. Hungry Harvest
Hungry Harvest fights food waste by connecting customers with surplus fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to landfills—the small, the ugly, or any abnormal looking vegetable. For each box delivered from farm to doorstep, the company also donates a healthy meal to someone in need: Hungry Harvest has contributed over 850,000 pounds of produce to hunger-solving organizations.
54. Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center
The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center works to develop innovative and evidence-based solutions to prevent chronic diseases and promote food security in and outside of New York City. The center’s research, policy analysis, and education opportunities joins experts and students together to brainstorm ways New York City’s food policy can be a model for the rest of the world.
55. IFOAM-Organics International
IFOAM is comprised of 800 affiliates in more than 100 countries working to make it easier for farmers to farm organically and sustainably, while raising awareness and recommending policy to embrace organic as a solution to global challenges. Its Participatory Guarantee Systems improve transparency regarding different domestic organic standards while also acknowledging a need for diversity and local adaptation.
56. Inika Food2Soil
Food2Soil is a project of Inika, an enterprise-based collective of San Diego businesses and gardeners transforming waste into resources. Food2Soil began in 2015 as a way to build the community’s capacity for composting, transforming food waste into soil, food, and jobs. The waste becomes SoilFood, compost full with microbial life and free of any additives. Food2Soil has diverted 125 tons of food scraps to compost since 2015.
57. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
IATP believes in a food system that benefits everyone: people, farmers, food system workers, and global communities. Their work includes economic and democratic advocacy to push for stronger health and farming policies. IATP also offers their expertise to NGOs, policymakers, and public agencies around the world to help bring policies and research into tangible food system change.
58. International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP)
IACP educates, empowers, and engages culinary professionals for a better food culture nationally and internationally. IACP includes not only nutritionists, chefs, and restaurateurs, but also writers, photographers, stylists, and academics working towards a better and more delicious food system.
59. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
CIAT helps farmers in low-income countries improve crop production, incomes, and natural resource management. Its research focuses on sustainable management of tropical soils and policies for coping with challenges including climate change, environmental degradation, and gender inequities. In 2017, CIAT launched the Big Data Platform to provide global leaders with open data, build collaborations, and demonstrate the power of big data analytics to enhance the impact of international agricultural research.
60. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
ICRISAT conducts agricultural research for rural development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to improve food availability and create and sustain rural livelihoods. It combines crop commodity research, including specialized breeding and integrated genetics, with natural resource management practices. ICRISAT’s Smart Food initiative aims to accelerate and popularize investments and support for the research and development of value chains for millets.
61. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world to conduct research, communicate results, and build capacity to ensure sustainable food production, promote healthy food systems, improve markets and trade, transform agriculture, build resilience, and strengthen institutions and governance.
62. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
IFAD works to eliminate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in rural populations around the world. By planning and implementing agricultural development projects in developing countries, IFAD invests in rural people, helping to raise their productivity and incomes and ultimately secure an improved and sustainable quality of life.
63. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
IRC is a non-profit organization helping refugees rebuild livelihoods threatened by war and oppression. The IRC New Roots program provides newly resettled refugees with opportunities to hone their food production skills and grow food in community gardens and urban farms.
64. James Beard Foundation (JBF)
JBF’s mission is to preserve, nurture, and celebrate the diverse culinary heritage of the U.S. Among a variety of events and programs intended to educate, inspire, and entertain, JBF presents the James Beard Award, the highest honor bestowed to American food and beverage professionals.
65. Kiss the Ground
Established in 2013, Kiss the Ground is a nonprofit organization that seeks to share a story of hope for the climate built by soil. Kiss the Ground aims to increase soil carbon and biodiversity on 500 million acres of land by 2050. Through storytelling videos, presentations, and educational materials, Kiss the Ground hopes to foster a deeper understanding of the role soil plays in the food system. The organization also funds training programs for farmers to transition to regenerative practices.
Kitchens for Good rescues ugly and surplus produce, offers culinary job training, and provides meals to the community. Their 13-week training program prepares unemployed individuals for careers in food service by offering technical culinary education, industry certification, and internship and job placement assistance.
67. Landesa Rural Development Institute (LRDI)
LRDI works to secure land rights for the world’s poorest people, often focusing on land rights for women. They partner with local governments in developing countries to help create laws, policies, and programs to foster social justice, economic growth, and opportunities for the communities.
68. Little Herds
Little Herds is an insect education non-profit based in Austin, TX trying to change the reputation of bugs: rather than a nuisance, they can be a tasty source of nutrients. Through farmers markets, family events, public outreach, and education partnerships, the organization reaches out to the next generation of food innovators to promote insects not only as a sustainable protein source, but also as a waste management tool and livestock feed.
69. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems
The MSU Center for Regional Food Systems educates in order to create a collective impact on social problems in the food system. Through interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach, the center engages people beyond just students to envision a locally powered food system focused on healthy, fresh, fair, and affordable food.
70. More and Better Network (MaB)
MaB is a civil society network of approximately 125 farmers’ and fishers’ organizations and NGOs in 47 countries working together to support agriculture and rural development to eradicate hunger and poverty. MaB also manages an agricultural transition website geared towards agroecology and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
71. National Farmers Union (NFU)
The NFU works to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers and ranchers and their rural communities in the U.S. They promote legislation and education beneficial to farmers through a grassroots structure in which policy positions are initiated locally by the 33 state chapters.
72. National FFA Organization (FFA)
FFA is an intracurricular student organization for those interested in the food, fiber, and natural resource industries. FFA is one of the largest youth organizations in the U.S., organizing conferences, conventions, competitions, experiential learning, and online learning experiences through more than 7,500 chapters.
73. National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC)
The NYFC is working to halt and even reverse the decline of family farming in the U.S. by representing, mobilizing, and engaging young farmers. Their policy priorities include improvements to the delivery of federal programming, land access, student loan debt, training, housing, climate and conservation, and racial equity.
74. Natural Gourmet Institute (NGI)
NGI provides health-supportive culinary education to empower chefs, individuals, and communities to be leaders in the conversation about food and wellbeing. They advocate for a sustainable food system that respects natural resources and the people who make each meal possible.
75. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
NRDC works to protect people’s right to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. Using data, science, and reports, NRDC works globally to advocate for change in the way the world addresses energy, food, climate change, and more.
76. New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA)
NMAA protects water and community acequias—gravity-propelled communal irrigation water systems brought to the Americas over 400 years ago. Through involvement in NMAA, communities are encouraged to advocate for cleaner water, grow food, and honor the cultural heritage of the area. NMAA’s Acequia Governance Project aims to improve community governance of acequias through education, technical assistance, and legal assistance, providing acequias with mapping and community-connecting technologies.
77. New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development boasts over 50 areas of study, including health, nutrition, and more. The Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, led by Department Chair Dr. Krishnendu Ray, covers a range of issues across public health, nutrition, food, politics, and culture and features a cycle of expert professors such as Marion Nestle.
78. Niman Ranch Next Generation Foundation
Each year, Niman Ranch, a leader in sustainable agriculture and humane livestock practices in the U.S., grants the Next Generation Scholarship Fund awards. The educational scholarships help the children of family farmers attain educations to continue rural enhancement and raise awareness around the loss of traditional farming and ranching practices. In 2018, the Next Generation Foundation debuted as an official non-profit organization.
79. No Wasted Lives
The No Wasted Lives Coalition joins eight organizations and their partners to spur global action toward reducing child acute malnutrition. In honor of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, No Wasted Lives supports the governments, donors, and NGOs using holistic approaches to child health and nutrition, regarding acute malnutrition as a global policy priority.
80. Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)
OFRF uses scientific research to increase the rate at which farmers adopt organic practices. OFRF works not only on the field, driving organic research and education efforts, but also in the government, working to cultivate federal policies that support incoming and established organic farmers.
81. Organic Seed Alliance (OSA)
OSA works to advance ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Each year, they educate thousands of farmers and community members, conduct organic plant breeding and seed production research, and advocate for national policies that strengthen organic seed systems.
82. Oxfam America
Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger, and injustice. As one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, they work with people in more than 90 countries to create lasting solutions. Oxfam develops long-term solutions to poverty and campaigns for social change.
83. Passion for Pasta Advisory Council
Passion for Pasta Advisory Council is a project of The Barilla Group that brings together scientists, nutritionists, and researchers to encourage sustainable consumption of pasta. They believe that pasta can be a sustainable and affordable food choice for people of any income level and can help support healthy bodies and healthy environments.
84. Planet Forward
A project of the Center for innovative Media at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Planet Forward aims to tell stories of innovations that may improve the planet. Planet Forward incorporates the next generation by engaging college students across the country who seek to know more about sustainability initiatives.
85. Post Harvest Education Foundation
The Postharvest Education Foundation works to empower people to reduce food loss and food waste. They do this by providing innovative education programs, tools, and mentorship to young professionals working in agriculture and postharvest systems around the world. The Postharvest Education Foundation’s programs focus specifically on the circumstances that developing countries face in the food system.
Founded in 2009, this publisher works toward food literacy among children and families. They have published a collection of illustrated books that tell some of the stories of the food system in a way that facilitates conversation. Readers to Eaters take books straight to their readers through a pop-up bookstore that appears at events and farmers’ markets.
87. Real Food Media
Real Food Media is an online library that aims to inspire through stories and films from the frontlines of the food movement. Their latest project is Real Food Reads, a monthly podcast which delivers a fresh book idea and discussion with the author, as well as recipe pairings.
88. Rediscovered Food Initiative and the Lexicon of Sustainability
The Lexicon is a non-profit communications agency focused on food, agriculture, and water issues to increase awareness of sustainable principles to combat climate change—their storytelling approach helps people connect with sustainability across the food system. Their Rediscovered Food Initiative documents the stories of 25 successful crops around the world beyond corn, wheat, and rice that provide communities with nutrition, biodiversity, economic opportunity, and hope in the midst of climate change.
89. ReFED
ReFED is a data-driven guide for businesses, government, funders, and nonprofits to collectively reduce food waste at scale. Through extensive research, ReFED has identified 27 of the best opportunities to reduce food waste across the U.S. and developed a range of tools to help efficiently and effectively reduce food waste from multiple points in the food chain.
The Refresh Working Group is a research collaboration made up of over 30 farmers, small business owners, researchers, corporate partners, nonprofit leaders, educators, community organizers, and innovators working across the food system to examine the intersection of technological innovation and food. Led by Food Tank, Google, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Refresh Working Group published its first report, “Refresh: Food and Tech, from Soil to Supper,” in 2018.
91. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC)
RLC is a non-profit organization with the mission to reduce and prevent the food waste. Based in New York City, the organization provides solutions and consultations in order to eliminate food waste while simultaneously fighting hunger. RLC operates programs that provides services such as food waste consulting, excess food delivery, and tax credit assistance.
92. Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC)
ROC United works to raise restaurant industry standards for working conditions, wages, and employee treatment. Made up of thousands of people who work in restaurants, over 750 employers, and thousands of consumers, ROC United has won more than US$10 million in misappropriated tips, wages, and discrimination payments and published over 30 reports illuminating the restaurant industry.
93. San Diego Food System Alliance
Cultivating a good food future, the San Diego Food Systems Alliance is a nonprofit collaborative that brings together businesses, nonprofit organizations, government entities, farmers, fishermen, and passionate community members to improve the food environment in San Diego, bringing good food to the 3.3 million people in San Diego County.
94. SAVE FOOD
The SAVE FOOD initiative encourages dialogue between industry, research, politics, and civil society leaders on food losses. By regularly bringing together stakeholders across the entire food supply chain, SAVE FOOD aims to stimulate debate in order to drive innovation and generate food-saving solutions from farm to kitchen.
95. Save Our Soils
The Save Our Soils campaign was initiated by Nature & More to raise consumer awareness about the importance of soil for health, food security, and the climate. By raising the urgency of the problem of soil degradation, the campaign encourages consumers to eat and buy organic food and to garden organically.
96. Seeds & Chips
Seeds & Chips hosts a leading food innovation summit each year, dedicated to showcasing national and international talent in the food system and cutting-edge solutions to the world’s social and economic problems. Each year, the conference connects people, ideas, and solutions to address topics such as agricultural challenges and climate change.
97. Slow Food USA
Slow Food USA is part of the global Slow Food network spreading a mission of good, clean, and fair food for all to over 100,000 members in more than 150 countries. Through a vast volunteer network of local chapters, youth, and food communities, they link the pleasures of the table with a commitment to protect community, culture, knowledge, and environment.
98. Square Roots
This urban farming company, located in Brooklyn, NY, grows a range of delicious herbs and distributes them directly to grocery stores across NYC. At the heart of Square Roots is their unique year-long Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, which provides an opportunity for young people to enter the farming industry. Square Roots farmers spend the year learning about plant science and how to grow indoors while getting exposed to business and community building. Co-founded by Tobias Peggs and Kimbal Musk, the farming company graduated its first class of students in 2017.
Founded by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, Small Planet Fund provides grants to visionary social movements and grassroots organizations working to transform the global food system. They also offer six types of strategic grants, including seed, emergency, leverage, impact, visibility, and multiplier grants for opportunities that offer the biggest impact.
100. Soul Fire Farm
Soul Fire Farm grows food as an act of solidarity with those oppressed by food apartheid, while maintaining respect for their ancestors, history, and the environment. Soul Fire Farm conducts training programs to raise the next generation of activist-farmers and support food sovereignty for future communities. The organization’s Co-Director Leah Penniman recently completed a book, “Farming While Black,” a guide for African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity.
101. Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Stone Barns is a nonprofit farm and educational center in New York with a partner restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. With a focus on fostering young farmers, the center serves as a working laboratory for experimentation, testing, and development of new tools, methods, crops, and animals to support resilient and regenerative agriculture.
102. Sustainable Food Trust (SFT)
Based in the U.K., SFT promotes international cooperation between policymakers, businesses, and civil society organizations to accelerate the transition to regenerative and harmonious food and farming systems. SFT influences and enhances the work of other food system leaders, advocates for better policy and practice, and provides a range of informative articles on their website.
103. Tanzania Graduate Farmers Association (TGFA)
TGFA promotes agriculture by advocating for the best practices, techniques, innovations, science, and technology supported by policies and regulations. TGFA works for social, political, and economic transformation in the sustainable development sector of Tanzania. Members include not only aspiring farmers, but also agricultural consultants, researchers, and experts from agribusiness.
104. The Bread Lab at Washington State University
The Bread Lab at Washington State University is a baking laboratory and think tank—a hub for scientists, bakers, chefs, farmers, brewers, distillers, and millers to conduct research on grains and achieve better flavor and nutrition. Started in 2011, the Bread Lab aims to identify the grains that perform best across the entire food system.
105. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs uses expert voices, independent research, and public engagement to bring clarity to the world’s issues and offer solutions for transformation. The organization provides insight on global food security and nutrition in the face of new challenges—and opportunities—brought upon by urbanization, climate change, and new technologies. Their annual reports provide guidance to public, private, and non-governmental organizations to become global leaders in nutrition and food security.
106. The Climate Collaborative
The Climate Collaborative joins manufacturers, retailers, distributors, brokers, suppliers, and other natural foods businesses to reverse the natural products industry’s contributions to climate change. Focusing on nine commitment areas—including agriculture, food waste, packaging, and more—the Climate Collaborative aims to share new ideas and solutions to help companies make positive impacts on the climate. The Collaborative includes executives from Annie’s, Dr. Bronner’s, Organic Valley, and more.
107. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEBAgriFood)
Lead by the UN Environment Programme, TEEBAgriFood brings together collaborations of scientists, economists, policymakers, business leaders, and farmer organizations in order to examine the food system. They undertake a comprehensive economic evaluation of agricultural systems, practices, products, and policy scenarios against a comprehensive range of impacts and dependencies.
108. The Land Institute
The Land Institute is committed to accelerating polyculture farming solutions and promotes growing food in tandem with nature, changing modern agricultural practices which cause soil erosion and degradation. Polyculture is the farming practice of using multiple crops within the same space, promoting biodiversity by emulating natural ecosystems.
109. The Rodale Institute
The Rodale Institute gathers research, farmer training, and consumer education to push the organic movement around the world. Including a 333-acre farm in east Pennsylvania, the Rodale Institute conducts its own regenerative organic agriculture and community outreach to pioneer organic farming, sharing research with farmers globally.
110. Thomas Reuters Foundation
For over three decades the Thomson Reuters Foundation has educated, empowered, and connected the world by supporting journalism. In partnership with Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, they launched the Food Sustainability Media Award, recognizing journalists shedding light on the issues of food sustainability, nutrition, and food security.
111. Tilth Alliance
Tilth Alliance supports regional farmers and environmental health in order to ensure that everyone can have access to healthy and nutritious food. With education programs focusing on agriculture, nutrition, and science, Tilth Alliance aims to change the way communities approach food production, transforming the food system’s impact on farmers, the environment, and public health.
The True Health Initiative—a group of more than 400 world-renowned health experts—aims to clarify healthy and sustainable living by dispelling health myths and publicizing truths with a unified voice. The initiative supports six principles for a world with less chronic disease: forks, feet, fingers, sleep, stress, and love.
113. Tufts University Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
The Friedman School pursues research and offers education programs that cover every part of health and the food system, from molecular nutrition to sustainability. Led by Dean Dariush Mozaffarian, the school includes faculty such as biomedical scientists, economists, nutritionists, physicians, and political scientists who understand the changes needed to generate real world impacts in global development and health.
114. Wallace Center at Winrock International
The Wallace Center at Winrock International seeks to establish a new food system to connect more people to healthy, fresh, and affordable food by supporting a sustainable food and agricultural system. The Wallace Center supports new ideas, develops partnerships, and supports communities through improved communications, knowledge sharing, and providing financial resources or other capacity building support to innovators.
115. West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research (CORAF/WECARD)
CORAF/WECARD works with 23 national agricultural research systems in West and Central Africa to improve small farmer efficiency and promote agribusiness. The organization develops new technologies and innovations, collects and dispenses agricultural data, strengthens and coordinates agricultural systems, and gives policy recommendations to encourage agricultural growth.
116. Wholesome Wave
Wholesome Wave started in 2007 with the mission to ensure low-income communities had equal access to healthy and healing foods. They make good food affordable through the Fruit & Vegetable Prescription Program, empowering doctors to write families prescriptions for produce, and the Double Value Coupon Program, doubling the power of federal benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
World Central Kitchen approaches natural disaster relief through the eyes of a chef, founder Jose Andres, feeding people in times of crisis. Since 2010 they have empowered people, strengthened the economy, developed key partnerships, created a skilled workforce, and helped communities feed themselves. World Central Kitchen recently responded to natural disasters in Puerto Rico, California, and Tijuana.
The World Food Program USA fights hunger through uniting the American people behind the UN World Food Programme. They work with policy makers, corporations, foundations and individuals to assist in providing capital and policy to fight global hunger.
119. Yieldwise
YieldWise is an initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation toward halving food loss and waste globally over seven years. They are supporting coordination, partnerships, and the infrastructure required to unify existing efforts, raise awareness, provide tools to take action, and develop new solutions.
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