Biden-Harris Administration
The Biden-Harris agency review team for USDA (see below) is actively gathering policy ideas for the new administration to consider. This is a window for organizations – including SAFSF, our members and our members’ grantee partners – to put policy priorities on the table and raise their voices in the conversations that will shape how the new administration’s agriculture, food system, and climate policies will play out on the ground. This is administrative policy advocacy,…
COVID-19 Response and Recovery
Amid the devastating effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food systems in 2020, SAFSF quickly launched a response program to convene, educate and organize funders, and unify a philanthropic voice around policy. Gathering In March, we convened 112 participants from 89 organizations through three calls for various funder constituencies to share information at the start of pandemic response. “In the Kitchen” Call for SAFSF membersBriefing and Strategy Session with leaders of national…
Public Policy Engagement
Public policy has a hand in driving outcomes in every aspect of agriculture and food system issues where philanthropy engages – access to healthy foods, small farm viability, local and regional food systems, rural community development, environmental toxins, safe workplaces, food sovereignty, fundamental rights to self-determination, and more. Additionally, structural inequities within our agriculture and food system result in disproportionately negative impacts on specific people and communities – low-income, rural, and people…
Sustainable Fibers and Textiles
Funders interested in the food system, sustainable agriculture, soil health, carbon sequestration, environmental health, and economic justice have many compelling reasons to expand their focus to the fiber and textile system. Food and fibers—including both plant-based fibers like cotton and hemp and animal-based products like wool and leather—are both part of an interconnected system with many linked impacts on health, social justice, and the environment. Recognizing these critical connections, Sustainable Agriculture and…
Building Relationships in Indian Country
Philanthropic funding for the Native communities on whose stolen lands our agricultural industry and our very nation has been built lags behind funding for all other communities of color, including among food systems funders. SAFSF has worked over the last 15 years to highlight the struggle to restore food sovereignty to Indian Country. Funders have learned from indigenous farmers, fishers, chefs and entrepreneurs about traditional foodways. They’ve heard from nonprofit and Tribal…
Impact Investing in Food and Ag
See Related Items Combining philanthropic and investment dollars is essential to creating a vibrant, just, and sustainable food system. SAFSF has been engaged with food system investment strategy building and peer networking for more than a decade. Here are just a few questions that SAFSF members are connecting on: What is the state of the food & ag impact investing field? What are the key barriers to entry challenges that investors and…
Case Studies from the Roadmap
Case Study businesses profiled in The Fibers Roadmap are seeking a total of $12 million by 2021 and more than $50 million in specific support over the next three years, including opportunities for grants, loans, guarantees, Program Related Investments, traditional investments, VC funds, and more. A map of the United States with icons indicating the location of the case study businesses and the crop/process the business focuses on. All 12 Case Studies…
Policy Connection Newsletter
Policy Connection is SAFSF’s member newsletter that combines information and analysis on the policy issues facing the agriculture and food sectors, with a particular perspective on the role of philanthropy in informing, shaping and responding to policy actions at the federal and state levels. Analysis by Traci Bruckner, SAFSF Policy Program Directorfrom past editions of Policy Connection December 2020 – Transitions, Priorities and Opportunities September 2020 – Winners and Losers July 2020…
Common Threads Report
Food & Fibers: Critical Players in an Interconnected System Excerpted and Expanded from Common Threads: U.S. Foundation Opportunities in Sustainable Fiber and Textiles (July 2017) Overview U.S. funders and investors have played a key role in building a movement to re-localize and improve the sustainability of our food system. At the same time, a closely related and important part of the agricultural system has been largely overlooked: fiber and textile…