Farms As Climate Infrastructure
Field Notes offer personal reflections paired with purpose, giving readers a snapshot of on-the-ground experiences. In this piece, SAFSF Membership Manager Holly Hanes shares about her time in Chicago with The Conservation Fund (SAFSF Member) and Carbon Yield for the Measuring Resilient Southland Farms Fund Field Day. Read on for her reflections on how farms are vital climate infrastructure. This summer I spent a day walking farmland on the edge of Chicago as part of the Measuring Resilient Southland Farms Fund Field Day, hosted by The Conservation Fund (TCF) and Carbon Yield. I came away with a highly unorganized collection…
Integrated Capital is Essential for Systems Change
Across the sustainable agriculture and food systems field, investors, funders, and community-rooted enterprises are confronting a shared reality: single-tool funding approaches cannot solve interconnected challenges. Before food reaches our plate, it moves through a complex web of market sectors, enterprises, and organizations. Grant funding can be transformative, but it can’t drive systems change alone. To create a ‘good food’ economy – one that values ecological farming, resilient supply chains, worker protections, community ownership, and equitable access – funders must work together to address the evolving capital needs for food system transformation. We need more regional food hubs, community-serving processing, worker…
Sit Down with Andrew McElwaine, Former SAFSF Board Member and Retiree, The Heinz Endowments
SAFSF Membership Manager Holly Hanes sat down with longtime SAFSF member and recently retired Vice President, Sustainability, of The Heinz Endowments, Andrew McElwaine, to reflect on his career in food systems and decades of membership with SAFSF. Andrew McElwaine recently left The Heinz Endowments, where he was responsible for building the foundation’s sustainability-related work, including infusing the principles of environmental and social sustainability across the full range of the organization’s grantmaking. Andrew was previously the Endowments’ first Director of Environmental Programs, returning to the Endowments in 2015 after being president and CEO of Pennsylvania Environmental Council and holding similar positions…
Job Posting: Finance & Operations Senior Director
Location: Remote within the U.S. Reports to: Executive Director Supervises: Technology and Data Insights Manager and multiple external consultants Pay Classification: Salaried, Exempt Posting Date: September 2, 2026 Application Deadline: Open Until Filled Download PDF APPLY About Our Organization Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders (SAFSF) is a national non-profit membership-based organization with a mission to mobilize diverse capital partners in support of a just and sustainable food and agriculture system. SAFSF helps funders and investors strengthen connections within the sustainable agriculture and food systems community, foster collaboration with their peers, and build capacity to be more effective in their…
Farewell from Bridget Dobrowski, Vice President of Finance & Operations
With a mix of joy, gratitude, and sadness, I’m sharing that I will be leaving SAFSF at the end of the year. There’s no big answer to why now other than it’s time for me to make space to pursue other interests and take on new challenges. SAFSF is in a strong place, and I look forward to seeing new stories come from the network for years to come. It’s hard to reflect on 17 years of SAFSF in a short email. The years have been full of growth, change, laughter, challenges, and deep commitment. I have an enormous appreciation…
August 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 // August 27, 2026 SAFSF Mycelium View is our 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. Policy Insights | Member Spotlight | Field Updates…
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,…
