These organizations are supporting local food producers and regional economies, offering educational resources and agricultural training, and working to ensure that their neighbors don’t go hungry.

On April 14, Food Tank is heading to Atlanta to partner with Spelman College and Emory University for the Summit “Empowering Eaters: Access, Affordability, and Healthy Choices.” Held in support of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the event will celebrate the city’s local food movement and uplift the health and wellbeing of future generations in policy.

Panels will explore food and land justice, healthier school food, student-led food systems research, food as medicine, and the power of procurement. Learn more about the Summit, which is free and open to the public, and register now by clicking HERE.

And check out some of the amazing changemakers working to transform the local food system in and around Atlanta.

1. Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund

The Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund is a multidisciplinary, cooperative nonprofit ecosystem that aims to regenerate custodial land ownership, ecological stewardship, and food and fiber economies in the American South. The Black Agrarian Fund helps to secure land for landless, returning generation farmers, while their Black Belt Justice Center serves as the fiscal sponsor for this work and is the lead organization for the Initiative and Fund.

2. Atlanta Community Food Bank

One in twelve people — and one in ten children — in the area served by the Atlanta Community Food Bank experience hunger. The Food Bank works with almost 700 community-based nonprofit partners to distribute more than 9 million meals across metro Atlanta and north Georgia every month. They also work with their partners to support school breakfast and summer feeding programs to ensure children have access to nutritious meals.

3. Community Farmers Markets (CFM)

Serving as an umbrella organization, CFM was established to meet the demand for more efficiently managed, community-based and sustainable farmers’ markets in Atlanta. They enable food distribution through their markets, organize educational programming and events, provide financial incentives to make fresh food more affordable, and offer resources to their vendors. CFM reports that in 2023, they served more than 65,000 in-person shoppers and over 160 vendors at weekly markets.

4. Diversity Dietetics

Co-Founded by Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Tamara Melton, Diversify Dietetic brings together students, professionals, and educators who are committed to creating opportunities to encourage a more diverse field of dietetics and nutrition. They do this through scholarships and grants, mentorship programs, application support, and educational resources.

5. Friends of the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill

In 2016, The Conservation Fund, The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience, and the Department of Parks & Recreation partnered with residents from the Browns Mill neighborhood to create an urban food forest in Atlanta. Friends of the Urban Food Forest was established to ensure the sustainability of the Forest with a community centered focus. The organizations’ programs work to eliminate hunger in the area, improve awareness of healthy behaviors, and provide career and training opportunities for adults and youth.

6. Food Well Alliance

Food Well Alliance brings together leaders of the local food movement to support more than 300 community gardens, urban farms, and orchards in metro Atlanta. Through their Resource Center programming, the Alliance offers trainings and workshops; volunteer and labor support; compost, tools, and equipment; and capacity building grants. They also bring local government leaders together to develop plans that integrate urban agriculture into city planning processes.

7. Georgia Foundation for Agriculture

By developing a pipeline for the next generation of farmers and agriculture leaders, the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture strives to equip people with the tools and knowledge they need to preserve the future of farming. The organization reaches students, teachers, and farmers across the state. Through their programming, the Foundation offers an agricultural STEM curriculum for teachers to use in classrooms, agriculture scholarships, apprenticeship opportunities, and support for local producers to ensure their success.

8. Georgia Organics

Georgia Organics promotes the work of organic farmers across the state to support the health of communities and the planet. Through their farmer services program, the nonprofit provides small and organic farmers with training and resources to help them build and maintain strong agricultural businesses. And in their Farm to School initiatives, they engage children with local, healthy food in cafeterias and classrooms.

9. Giving Kitchen

Giving Kitchen provides emergency financial support and community resources to food service workers in need. Those who meet the criteria can apply for monetary assistance from the network. And the Giving Kitchen’s Stability Network serves as a referral program that connects workers with social services. Their efforts reach workers in restaurants, catering, concessions, food trucks, cafeterias, bars, and taprooms.

10. Global Growers Network (GGN)

Working with a network of 175 families, many of whom are resettled refugees, GGN connects food producers to sustainable agriculture resources and quality farmland. They support 10 farm, community garden and orchard sites in DeKalb and Rockdale Counties, helping communities grow fresh, culturally familiar crops. In 2021, they acquired a 23-acre property that will offer a home to farmers who face barriers of access to land and capital.

11. Mariposas Rebeldes

Mariposas Rebeldes works to make community gardening, ecology, and cultural education more accessible for queer, trans, and intersex people. They offer community events centering food and sustainable land stewardship. The group envisions a space where members can grow food, cook meals, and share resources while following Indigenous land management principles.

12. Open Hand Atlanta

Open Hand Atlanta distributes healthy meals to people in need, with the vision of eliminating diet-related chronic illnesses. The organization delivers meals directly to the homes of individuals in Atlanta and around the state of Georgia free of charge. They also operate a teaching kitchen, where they offer nutrition support programs.

13. Recovery Eco Agriculture Project

Recovery Eco Agriculture Project engages in education, research, and development work in support of sustainable and regenerative land use. These efforts encompass small scale farming, agroecology, agroforestry, and reforestation. They also offer horticultural therapy by providing accessible gardens for physically and developmentally disabled individuals. And they have children’s program that introduces young people to edible playground gardens.

14. Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO)

SOLO works to preserve the culture, heritage, and traditions of the Saltwater Geechee people. Through their agricultural program, the organization is incubating heirloom and heritage crops, which they plan to bring to market. They also operate a youth agricultural program to connect young people to the land and teach them about planting, harvesting, and preparing traditional foods.

15. Slow Food Atlanta

A local chapter of Slow Food USA, Slow Food Atlanta works to realize good, fair, and clean food for all. The organization educates the broader community on opportunities to support local food culture, advocates for biodiversity and a sustainable relationship with food producers and brings attention to food and land justice. Slow Food Atlanta also has events throughout the year to engage and educate residents and build community.

16. The Common Market

Working in four regional hubs, The Common Market is a nonprofit food distributor connecting urban communities with local food grown on family farms. Common Market Southeast works with more than 30 producers in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee to distribute food to the Atlanta area and build more resilient supply chains .

17. The Grocery Spot

Founded in 2021, The Grocery Spot first opened as a for-profit grocery store to help the local community access high-quality and affordable food. After connecting with and learning from residents, however, they converted their model into a nonprofit grocery store. The Grocery Spot now operates as a community-funded free grocery store that is open to all, with no applications or appointments required.

18. Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture (TLW)

Since 2006, TLW has worked to demonstrate how food can serve as a bridge to connect people of different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. They have agriculture training, nutrition, education, and job creation programs. And the organization regularly grows and harvests produce to provide the local community with a consistent source of fresh food. Their farm sites in Metro Atlanta, intended to demonstrate the transformative power of agriculture, produce fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and other value-added products.

19. Umi Feeds

A food rescue nonprofit, Umi Feeds works to meet the needs of people who are facing food insecurity and unhoused by serving healthy, nutritious meals. They rescue surplus food from consumers, farmers, events, restaurants, and other food businesses then redistribute it in the form of their weekly mobile dinners. They also provide people in need access to personal care items, blankets, clothing, and sanitary products.

20. Wholesome Wave Georgia

The organization operates under the belief that all Georgians should have access to healthy fresh, locally grown food. They work to increase access to and awareness of nutritious food options. Their programs also help residents enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other benefits, match SNAP/EBT dollars at participating farmers markets, and connect households on SNAP with gardening kits.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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Here’s a trivia question:

Where are the most important transformations in the food system taking place right now?

a. The United Nations headquarters

b. In the U.S. Congress

c. At a high-level dialogue in Europe or the Middle East

d. Within a few miles of where you’re reading this letter

If you answered (d), you’re correct!

When we talk about food system transformation, we’re not talking about a sudden metamorphosis in some far-off place at some indeterminate point in the future.

Rebuilding the food system in a more resilient, sustainable, equitable way is happening right now, as we speak, in neighborhoods and cities across the world.

And it’s not like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or a tadpole becoming a frog. It’s a gradual process—sometimes it can feel slow, as many of us probably know!—that moves forward sometimes in big leaps but much more often in small steps.

But because of tireless advocates at the local level, we are indeed moving forward. Every step forward is a win: a win for producers, a win for eaters, a win for the planet.

And as Food Tankers know, we don’t just do this work for ourselves. A stronger, more just food system is vital toward nourishing future generations too, which is what we’ll be discussing at our next Summit in a couple weeks.

When I look out at the state of the food system, I see so much that’s going well.

Just take food waste, for example. Last year, the city of Chicago launched a composting program that allows residents to drop off food scraps at 15 locations around the city, where they’re collected and turned into compost for soil. And in Maryland, where I live, policymakers created a food residual diversion law in 2021, which requires any company, store, school, organization, or agency that handles food and is located within 30 miles of a compost facility to divert food scraps away from landfills.

Or look at school meals. Maine and California passed laws in 2021 that guaranteed free lunches for all school students, and several other states including Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Connecticut, and Vermont have also done so since then.

And that’s just the beginning! Here are some other food policy wins we’re tracking on the local level around the country:

Minimum wage protections are being strengthened. In Chicago, the subminimum wage for tipped workers is being phased out following city council action last year, so employees including many food service workers will eventually be paid the standard hourly minimum wage rather than significantly less. First-of-its-kind legislation in New York City last year increased the minimum wage for app-based delivery workers, and in California, effective next month, the minimum wage will be raised to $20 for fast food workers at large franchises. Plus, the state created a Fast Food Council with workers, union members, and companies to set standards for workplace safety and wages.

Small-scale food producers are getting the rights they’re due. In Arkansas, a variety of laws passed in 2021 allow for homegrown or homemade food and drink to be sold at farmers markets, farm stands, homes, and even online to help boost local economies. A program called New Mexico Grown helps schools, educational institutions, and organizations serving elderly populations in that state to source food from local producers. And in Nevada, a 2023 law expands sidewalk vendors’ rights to sell food on the street.

Urban agriculture is getting official. In Detroit, the mayor appointed Tepfirah Rushdan as the city’s first Director of Urban Agriculture last fall to encourage and support urban farmers and streamline the use of abandoned lots as farms and gardens. And a couple years ago in Boston, mayor Michelle Wu created GrowBoston, the city’s office of urban agriculture, to work alongside the Mayor’s Office of Food Justice to fund and develop urban ag projects.

States are hearing the needs of rural communities, too. In Colorado, the Consumer Right to Repair Agriculture Equipment Act, which went into effect in January, means that owners of agricultural equipment can repair their machinery independently, rather than being required to go through the manufacturer. And in Missouri, a broad ag law signed last summer includes tax credits for farmers who help new farmers get started, plus programs to boost flood resilience along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

As I mentioned, the list goes on. Recent laws passed in Colorado and Rhode Island limit the sale and use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which harm bees and other pollinators. The city council of Perris, California, recently passed an ordinance that requires grocery stores in the city to stock healthy food and drink items at check-out counters instead of junk food, following the lead of Berkeley’s similar 2020 regulation.

Municipal food policy councils and neighborhood advocates are making even more advances toward a better food system, too. At the end of the day, progress in the food system comes down to empowering eaters, today and for generations to come.

So I hope you’ll click HERE to grab your spot at our upcoming Summit in partnership with Emory University and Spelman College—in person or via livestream on Sunday, April 14—where we’ll all be inspired by 35+ amazing speakers discussing how food policy can build accessibility and affordability in the food system.

And I hope, too, that you’ll commit to creating more food policy wins in your communities! Again, transforming the food system is not a one-and-done process, nor is it one that only takes place in Capitol buildings and meeting rooms. Building a better food system requires effort from all of us—right where we live.

Let’s chat about how to make that happen. Email me at danielle@foodtank.com to share what’s going well where you live, and let me know how I can connect you with Food Tank’s resources to boost your efforts.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash

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CORAF, the largest sub-regional research organization in Africa, works in 23 countries in West and Central Africa, supporting farmer-led research to overcome the hunger crisis. “Farmers are knowledge producers, not only doctors have knowledge,” says Ousmane Ndiaye of ASPRODEB, an association of farmers and fishers across West and Central Africa that collaborates with CORAF.

The organization believes that it is essential to leverage the knowledge of producers and bolster their relationships with nonprofits and small and medium sized enterprises to transform food systems in West and Central Africa.

Read more about CORAF’s work and the need for local solutions on Forbes by clicking HERE.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Haytam, Wikimedia Commons

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 “We have identified the problems our communities are faced with and the root causes of them, and we are working to bring about the various necessary strategies that will help curb the pervasiveness of these problems,” Ibrahim Bangura, the Founder and CEO of NAS, tells Food Tank.

The organization employs young agriculturists, rural development professionals, and social workers whose knowledge and experiences they feel are key in addressing social problems across the region.

Through ongoing engagement with community members, NAS began a seed banking initiative to help them work toward food sovereignty. Their training programs educate farmers on the value of seed banking, strengthening local understanding of seed systems, and helping producers establish independent seed banks in their own communities.

Bangura views seed banking as a multi-layered strategy that increases equitable opportunities within agriculture while retaining cultural integrity. “Our seed aid program is directly involved in engaging producer groups, especially women who are the custodians of local seed breeding and conservation, to multiply varieties of foundation seeds including rice, ground nut, maize and others,” he tells Food Tank.

Seed banking is the practice of collecting and preserving seeds as a means of ensuring food security, especially during planting periods when access to food becomes limited. Despite Sierra Leone’s apt climate conditions for food production, Bangura credits decades-long trauma from war and disease, as well as poor governance as the primary reasons for food insecurity within its Eastern Province.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly 75 percent of Sierra Leone’s population is employed in the agricultural industry. These communities are primarily occupied by peasant farmers who survived mainly from small scale semi commercial and/or subsistence farming.

Bangura names underdeveloped transportation networks, limited purchasing power, and a lack of awareness about an individual’s or community’s right to a balanced diet as the “greatest barriers to accessing healthy, high-quality foods” within the region.

Seed banking, Bangura believes, signifies an immediate call to action against food insecurity and equips residents of rural communities with the necessary resources to combat future emergency periods.

NAS’ seed banking initiative also aims to promote agro-biodiversity, encouraging greater food sovereignty through “approaches to farming which incorporate the conservation, growth, consumption and commercialization of diversified food and seed varieties,” says Bangura. This comes at a time when communities are experiencing “the growing extinction of [their] nutrient-dense indigenous seed varieties in the farming system.”

Recently, NAS hosted its Seed Fair program—an event where farmers are given the opportunity to gather and share knowledge about the various uses of seeds, as well as participate in seed exchange. Bangura tells Food Tank, “The community seed fair is becoming an interesting program to farmers as they have learned the needs and impact of seed diversity in the farming system”.

The event included 50 farmers, who had the opportunity to interact in smaller groups and perform individual presentations. Other attendees were representatives of the Eastern Province’s Ministry of Agriculture, and key personalities from various NGOs with interest in agriculture and rural development programs.

The seed fair, offered as a recurring event for members and partners of NAS, provides every farmer an opportunity to secure different varieties of seeds, as well as learn about their maintenance and economic benefits.

“I hope to see New African Society-Sierra Leone as one of the leading organizations that are striving to bring changes in the development wings,” Bangura tells Food Tank, “we are striving to take actions for humanity and bring about developmental innovations to communities that have been left behind and where government support is hardly sufficient enough to reach.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of New African Society

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Launched in 2011, the Healthy Corners program is designed to increase accessibility to healthier food options in areas without grocery stores, particularly neighborhoods affected by food apartheid. The $US890,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) will help DCCK scale the program at a time when eaters are grappling with elevated food prices.

“Healthy Corners is the ultimate myth busting food access program. There is proof that small businesses want to be part of a healthier, more sustainable community and that low-income consumers are interested and want to put healthy food on the table for themselves and their families,” Alexander Moore, Chief Development Officer at DCCK tells Food Tank.

To promote affordable alternatives, the program offers store owners produce at wholesale prices and delivers fresh and frozen vegetables in smaller quantities than traditional distributors typically offer. The Healthy Corners program works with 54 participating corner stores, providing distribution and technical assistance.

DCCK aims to utilize the funding to purchase and transport more products from local farmers while involving more community members through outreach and nutrition education initiatives.

At 33 of the participating stores, produce incentives are offered through the SNAP Match initiative, launched by Healthy Corners in 2018. Customers who purchase one piece of produce included in their initial SNAP-eligible transaction, receive $US5.00 coupons for fresh and frozen produce. DCCK reports that the incentive program has been a success since the beginning, spurring a 162 percent increase in sales.

DCCK will distribute the funds from the grant directly to SNAP customers through the SNAP Match initiative, supporting the organization in its mission to reach and serve 20,000 food insecure households annually.

“What we’re doing is putting money right in the hands of consumers to make a market-based choice,” Moore tells Food Tank. “This grant and this model of nutrition incentive programming, allows us to provide additional resources to people who want to make a healthy choice, but don’t have the financial flexibility to do so.”

In the last year, Healthy Corners achieved rapid growth, with a 16 percent increase in overall sales. In addition, they saw a 70 percent boost in local produce and products sales because of strong partnerships with regional farmers and food organizations.

According to Moore, Healthy Corners also goes beyond accessibility gaps, working to reduce as many challenges for store owners as possible. “The program has been trying to move with our community to help us understand what products are going to sell, how do we present them in a way that’s going to be appealing, culturally relevant, and provide recipe options that are rooted in what people want to eat and can actually access from their corner store.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of DC Central Kitchen

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The Watershed Project, supported by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), focuses on restoring degraded forests, preserving water reservoirs, and promoting sustainable land management practices. The initiative also connects ecological health and food security.

As part of the restoration project, community members planted cash crops, perennial crops, and high-value crops that offered sources of livelihood.

According to the FAO, ecosystems play a crucial role in agriculture by providing vital services like nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and water regulation. When mismanaged or degraded, these ecosystems directly impact agricultural productivity, soil quality, and water availability, affecting food production. But by enhancing agricultural conditions, the U.N. agency is helping communities access diverse and reliable food sources.

The U.N. Global Water Security Assessment reports that three-quarters of the global population resides in countries grappling with water insecurity.

“One third of food production is reliant on rivers. Freshwater systems produce or influence more than half of fish consumed globally. An increase in extreme poverty in developing countries — for the first time in two decades — is inextricably linked to the global food insecurity crisis almost 40 percent of global croplands already experience water scarcity,” Lis Mullin Bernhardt, Officer of Freshwater Unit, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), tells Food Tank.

In the Philippines, agriculture captures the majority of the country’s exploitable water resources, according to Harold (Krystian) Javier, Program Policy Officer, Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) for WFP Philippines.

Through the Project, the FAO collaborated with the Philippine government to devise innovative, participatory, and nature-oriented forest management methodologies. This led to the establishment of the Carood Watershed Model Forest Management Council, where various stakeholders—ranging from chief executives and local government units to community groups and academies—join together in collaborative decision-making.

“We need to do more joined-up thinking to look at interconnected ecosystems, for example watersheds and forested areas which are critical to cities. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable and affected,” Bernhardt tells Food Tank. “The Philippines Carood Watershed Model Forest Project is a great example of this kind of thinking.”

UNEP believes that collaborative endeavors akin to the Carood Watershed Project can serve as blueprints for transformative change. Through proactive initiatives, inclusive governance, and investment in sustainable practices, nations can pave the way for a more resilient and secure future, ensuring equitable access to vital resources while safeguarding the planet for generations to come.

“Delayed action is no longer an option in the face of the devastating effects of climate change, the extinction crisis and severe land degradation globally,” Bernhard tells Food Tank. “We must embrace change, complexity and circularity to create water-resilient food systems.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Hitoshi Namura, Unsplash

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FRN, a student-led movement dedicated to fighting food waste and hunger, will work with volunteers, including students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, to rescue uneaten food and donate it to the Just One Project. The nonprofit recipient works to address food insecurity in southern Nevada through a pop up mobile market, a brick and mortar community market, and grocery delivery. 

“We all deserve access to nutritious food—food is a right,” Regina Anderson, Executive Director of FRN, tells Food Tank. “Food Recovery Network provides on the ground food recovery to demonstrate with love and respect how easy, cost effective and fast it can be for all of us to recover food from our large-scale events like the Bullseye Event Group Players Tailgate party before the Big Game, conferences, higher education institutions–you name it–so that we can provide that food to our neighbors who just need some help.”

The Bullseye Event Group Players Tailgate brings together more than 50 active National Football League (NFL) players, celebrities, and guests for food, drinks, and entertainment before the Super Bowl. This marks the fourth year that FRN will recover uneaten food from the Players Tailgate. During last year’s Super Bowl in Phoenix, AZ, FRN reports that they recovered enough food to produce more than 2,400 meals for those in need. 

The NFL estimates that Super Bowl events generate as much as 63,500 kilograms of donatable food and drinks. And every year in the United States more than one third of food goes to waste, according to ReFED. Once surplus food finds its way to landfills, it releases harmful greenhouse gases as it breaks down.

“When we recover surplus food, we also help our environment by not sending that food to landfill,” Anderson says. “With just small actions, we can make a tremendous change in the U.S. and move from food waste to food recovery.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Food Recovery Network

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In 2024, the Agri-Food Analytics Lab predicts that average Canadian families of four will spend CAD 701.79 more on food—up from CAD 15,595.21 in 2023. The higher costs are due in part to natural disasters related to the climate crisis, like flooding and wildfires. The speakers say that advocates recognize the need for sustainable food systems, and municipal governments may be powerful in implementing change. 

The webinar’s organizers highlighted the City of Guelph’s efforts in creating a local, circular food system. With a population of 120,000 and a passion for converting food waste into food security, the city won Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge in 2020. 

The winning project, Our Food Futures, “ties together goals of access to affordable, nutritious food, climate action and sustainability, healthy communities, business innovation and social enterprise, and social partnerships,” says Schnurr. One hundred and fifty organizations, such as the SEED, the Second Harvest Food Rescue App, and Community FEWD, collected food waste and distributed food. They also worked with the municipality’s health organization to prescribe produce to patients. It was important for the project to “bring everyone’s perspective into the picture,” says Dainard, who serves as the Smart Cities Project Manager in Wellington.  

Our Food Futures also supported a regenerative agriculture pilot program in Alberta. Dainard explains, “Being able to support farmers as they transition to regenerative agriculture is a part of regional security. It’s going to make us more resistant to the shifts that are coming because of climate change.” As the global food system strains to feed over 8 billion people amid war, pandemics, and political upheaval, local food systems will be at the forefront of the effort to feed communities. 

Building on the pilot’s success, Wellington compiled lessons into a handbook for other municipalities. Speakers reinforced that collaborative efforts with organizations, companies, indigenous leaders, and governments throughout Canada are essential to helping communities access food amidst the climate crisis.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Randy Fath, Upsplash

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“We have seen an uptick in food insecurity in the past year, so now we’re opening up to new types of food to come into this starving food system,” Alyson Schill, Co-Founder and CEO of Careit, tells Food Tank. “That’s happening across the U.S. right now and it’s enabling more nonprofit organizations to source relationships between donors that they previously didn’t even know about.”

Careit operates through a mobile app, where businesses can create profiles and share details about surplus food they have. Nonprofit organizations with a Careit account then receive timely notifications when a donation in their area is posted or assigned to them. Upon notification, the organization has the option to either accept or decline that donation. If it is rejected, the donation becomes available again for other potential partners. Once a match is made, both parties can use the app’s chat features to confirm the donation, record details including the weight and temperature of the food and coordinate the logistics for pickup.

“Our focus is to create an ease of use with the technological features that Careit can offer businesses that previously haven’t had the ability to donate as frequently or ever before and allow them to actually start a food donation program or expand a food donation program they previously had,” Schill tells Food Tank.

Schill says Careit is also helping grocery stores increase the amount of food they can deliver to the community through donations. Grocery stores typically have a relationship with a food bank that is connected to a variety of smaller, local organizations.

Schill says these smaller organizations are usually only able to pick up food from the store once or twice a week, and occasionally miss the pickups altogether. Careit has been able to fill in some of these gaps of missed pickups by building food donation relationships between larger grocery stores and smaller organizations. “We have been helping Sprouts Farmers Market to make sure that they have the right partners in each area so that food is distributed equitably,” she says.

Careit is also helping all of Sprouts Farmers Market locations to become compliant with SB1383, a California law requiring organic waste facilities and operations to measure and report organic waste material activity.

And the platform is broadening its focus beyond food to include household goods, including kitchen equipment, hand sanitizer, and other products. They are also exploring animal feed and have already helped farms in multiple states receive donations that they can use to care for their livestock. According to Schill, Careit’s approach toward animal feed donation is particularly notable due to longstanding issues of traceability within the industry.

“Careit is helping these smaller farms that are at the cutting edge of this old practice, that’s also new in terms of modern society’s way of viewing it, to make it visible and the norm,” Schill tells Food Tank.

Schill envisions Careit evolving into a vital resource for redistribution among nonprofit organizations, with the potential to contribute to effective emergency rescue relief as well. Careit is also initiating two partnerships in Portland, Oregon and Memphis, Tennessee aimed at establishing food donation programs and measuring their successes for future scalability.

“We’re doing some really big projects where we are helping groups of stadiums, event centers, or public places like zoos and colleges to collaborate to increase the amount of food they’re donating, to increase their composting, and then just in general, to have more sustainable practices around food systems,” Schill tells Food Tank.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Alyson Schill

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“We want the Oceans Futures platform based on strong scientific support for where fish will move in response to climate change so that we can understand where risks associated with fish and fisheries might change in the future,” Sarah Glaser, Senior Director of Oceans Futures at WWF, tells Food Tank.

Oceans Futures analyzes global climate and fisheries models to highlight 20 regions across the world that will likely see conflict, food insecurity, or geopolitical tensions by 2030. WWF hopes that the early warning system will enable early, collaborative action on conservation and conflict prevention to foster a harmonious climate for people and the environment.

Fisheries conflict has increased 20-fold over the last four decades, according to a study on global patterns of fisheries conflict, published in Global Environmental Change. And another study in Global Change Biology finds that 23 percent of all fish stocks will move in the next eight years, optimizing some fishing areas while deteriorating others and significantly impacting coastal communities and relationships across countries.

Oceans Futures aims to meet the challenges fisheries will face to provide solutions for more peaceful oceans, more sustainable communities and economies, and nutritious blue foods for all.

“When we design conservation interventions around fisheries management we need to be able to anticipate when conflict could happen as a result of our conservation interventions, but also in areas of the world in which conflict is systemic or there’s a recent history of conflict,” Glaser says.

Oceans Futures is supported by partnerships with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF), and Ode Partners. The platform’s initial launch reveals a combination of projections for how fish stocks will shift over time due to climate change as well as how this movement will increase the risk of conflict over fisheries.

By 2025, Oceans Futures hopes to expand the available body of data by using machine-learning models to understand what causes the escalation of low-level conflicts. Glaser says this technological advancement will help them build these models that operate up to 20 times faster than their first database, the Horn of Africa, which took almost two years and more than a dozen researchers to create.

Glaser believes the technological solutions that Oceans Futures develops can also serve as a valuable tool to address food loss and waste. If the platform can support the implementation of cold chain storage, including ice makers and refrigerated transportation, it can help reduce food loss in fishing communities. The cold chain infrastructure can also reduce fossil fuels if it is supported by solar, wind, or green power.

It’s a “win for the people in the communities who make more money because their fish is higher quality,” Glaser tells Food Tank. “And it also means that the ocean wins because more of the fish that are taken from it make it into the global food chain, and are not just lost to the system.”

As solutions are rolled out, Oceans Futures hopes to foster awareness and conversations about the role of fisheries in supporting peaceful coastal communities and food security.

“People are more and more committed to using these multilateral institutions, such as regional fishery management organizations as a means for working together to understand fisheries, to share information and to really promote good behavior on the world’s seas,” says Glaser.

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Photo courtesy of NOAA, Unsplash

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