Protecting the Future of Food
Since our founding in 1990, RAFI-USA has recognized that our food system is deeply inequitable, where rural communities — their land, animals and people — exploited to benefit corporate power structures. Working across agricultural sectors and collaboratively through coalitions, we combine on–the-ground practical services and policy advocacy to ensure farmers have access to the tools they need to make the right choices for their farm and families as well as for their communities and the environment.
RAFI-USA takes a whole system approach to change through our integrated program areas: Challenging Corporate Power, Come to the Table, Expanding Farmers Market Access, Farm Advocacy, Farmers of Color of Network, and Just Foods. For an overview of our programs, please visit our Programs page.
Our Mission
RAFI-USA challenges the root causes of unjust food systems, supporting and advocating for economically, racially, and ecologically just farm communities.
Our Vision
We envision a thriving, sustainable, and equitable food system: Where farmers and farmworkers have dignity and agency; where they are supported by just agricultural policies; where corporations and institutions are accountable to their community.
Our Goals
— Stronger corporate and government accountability that benefits farmers and agricultural workers, and rural communities
— More resources and opportunities for historically underserved, struggling producers that support viability of small, independent farms. Increased participation of black and brown farmers and agricultural workers in RAFI-USA’s work.
— Farmers, agricultural workers, and local voices drive policies and programs.
— More diverse, cross-sector, interconnected networks engaged in the food system.
Core Values
Relationships and Lived Experience: We believe in human connection, one another’s lived stories, and the powerful witness of authentic experiences shared in trust.
Equity and Justice: We believe in actively working to undo oppressive systems, with an emphasis on food systems, in an effort to build a more just world in which all communities and individuals thrive.
Empathy and Compassion: We believe in the power of listening with the intent to understand the experiences of those with whom we work. An essential part of how we address systemic injustices comes from this place of compassion.
Integrity and Accountability: We believe that reliability and correcting mistakes are critical ways to honor and demonstrate our dedication to constituents. We believe in holding institutions, corporations, governments, and other bodies of power to that same level of commitment.
Collaboration: We believe that our work is inherently interconnected and when we work together our cooperation makes us stronger and more effective.
