Environment & Climate Data Insights Report
The origin story of SAFSF comes out of a dilemma. In the early 1990’s, funders within the Environmental Grantmakers Association debated whether agriculture could align with environmental sustainability goals. Many recognized the ecological damage wrought by industrial agriculture, while others pointed to agroecological and organic farming as a solution. Everyone agreed: our food system impacts natural resources, environmental health, and climate change. Thus began a new organization: Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders. Decades later, the evidence supports the idea that food and farming is responsible for roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it also offers some…
Critical Conversations
The future of a resilient, just, and democratic food and agriculture system relies on more connected communities, aligned strategies, and increased resources. SAFSF recognizes the need for diverse capital partners to better coordinate around specific levers of change and regional opportunities, in alignment with the communities they serve. We also hear the need for more candid, strategic, and regionally accessible gatherings that can grow investment in food systems and foster greater alignment within and beyond the funder community. To that end, SAFSF members are invited to propose and host ‘Critical Conversations’ around the country in 2027. We want to hear…
2026 SAFSF Forum Recap
Go Back And Get It: The U.S. South At The Center of Change “So goes the South, so goes the Nation.” More than a regional saying, this guiding theme of the 2026 SAFSF Forum served as both a historical reflection and a call to action brought into the space by Ms. Carol Blackmon, Fund Advisor, Southern Black Farmers Community Led Fund, and other speakers. The South has long been a bellwether for the nation’s future. The systems that take root there, whether systems of exclusion or liberation, have shaped the trajectory of the entire country. What goes unaddressed in the…
Seeking: Consultant to Support National Funder Engagement Project on Institutional Food Procurement
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) is seeking an experienced consultant to lead a two-year national project at the intersection of philanthropic strategy and institutional food procurement. The goals of the project are to: (1) increase adoption of institutional procurement as a food systems strategy among funders, and (2) deepen strategy alignment and coordination among funders and field leaders around institutional procurement as a lever for food systems transformation. The ideal candidate brings deep fluency in both the philanthropic funding landscape and the institutional procurement field — including familiarity with key funders, food system stakeholders, and the policy, infrastructure,…
Moving With Intention: Before We Arrive to the South
The SAFSF Forum travels to places that conferences and philanthropy often overlook and underfund. SAFSF has not hosted a Forum in the South for over 10 years. In 2024, we collaborated with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to better coordinate philanthropic and federal resources for underserved producers and communities — a project that unexpectedly led us to a pilot in southwest Georgia. Though the winds shifted swiftly at USDA later that year and the pilot never launched, we couldn’t forget the power and resilience of the leaders we met there, or their vision for the future of food…
Earth Day Reflections on SAFSF Forum: Ancestral Futures
This year, Earth Day sparks reflection on the existential and urgent need to radically reduce our reliance on the fossil fuel and war economy and invest in nature based solutions, Indigenous land stewardship, food equity and regenerative farming. At the SAFSF Forum this summer, we are reflecting on the conference theme “Ancestral Futures.” How do we act now to be good ancestors to future generations? How do we take action for regeneration over extraction, relationship over exploitation, and abundance over scarcity? We are reminded that the future is not something distant or abstract. It is already present — in the land, in the water, in…
2026 Policy Funding Challenge
A Challenge to SAFSF Members: Invest Boldly in Policy Advocacy and Movement Building The challenges facing our food system—spanning corporate consolidation, land loss, climate change, racial inequity, labor exploitation, access to adequate nutrition, and beyond—make clear that long-term change depends on shifting the policies, systems, and power structures that shape people’s daily lives. Building a truly resilient, just, and democratic food system requires sustained investment in policy advocacy and movement building. Policy change unfolds over years, legislative sessions, and election cycles. Achieving durable policy successes at the Tribal, federal, state, and local levels requires patient, flexible, and sustained investment in…
February Mycelium View
SAFSF Mycelium View SAFSF’s Mycelium View goes deeper—tracking emerging field developments, policy shifts, and systems change efforts from philanthropy and beyond. Read in browser Forward to funder colleague // February 24, 2026 Introducing SAFSF Mycelium View, our new bi-monthly newsletter for funders and movement leaders who want to stay close to the trends, policies, and system change efforts shaping the food and agriculture landscape. Like the mycelium networks that quietly connect and sustain our entire ecosystems underground, this newsletter surfaces important signals for those working toward a more just and equitable food system. While our bi-monthly ‘Network Pulse’ newsletter covers…
Sit Down with Bruce Karmazin, Long-Time Executive Director at Lumpkin Family Foundation
SAFSF Executive Director Clare Fox and Senior Membership Associate Holly Hanes sat down with longtime SAFSF member and recently retired Executive Director of Lumpkin Family Foundation, Bruce Karmazin, to reflect on his career and two decades of membership with SAFSF. With a core focus on promoting health and wellness through sustainable food systems, mental health initiatives, and regenerative agriculture, the Lumpkin Family Foundation is a private, family foundation based in Illinois. At the SAFSF 2025 Forum, Lumpkin Family Foundation celebrated 20 years as a member of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders. Bruce Karmazin recently stepped down as Executive Director…
Beyond the Stereotypes: A Call to Invest in the Rural Communities that Sustain Us – Reflections from the UnConference
Holly Hanes, SAFSF Senior Membership Associate, shares her reflections from attending the United Philanthropy Forum’s UnConference as an Emerging Leader scholarship recipient. She participated in a transformative session discussing the newly released 10 Principles of Rural Philanthropic Engagement, which provides critical framing for funders seeking to deepen their work with rural communities. This year, I had the pleasure of joining colleagues at United Philanthropy Forum’s UnConference as an Emerging Leader scholarship recipient. United Philanthropy Forum is the umbrella membership organization for Philanthropy Infrastructure Organization (PIO), also known as funder networks or affinity groups. This year’s conference was unique in structure…
