Our Grantees
Our Food and Farm Communications Fund grant enabled us to hire a communications person to help us craft a new narrative that has had a tremendous impact on the consistency and effectiveness of our message and how we communicate to the outside world, as well as our internal networks.Food and Farm Communications Fund Grantee
We are excited to share our group of 2019 Core Grants recipients, listed below. This cohort was selected from a pool of over 150 compelling applications, a reflection of the urgent and widespread need for targeted communications support.
Since its launch in 2012, the Food and Farm Communications Fund has awarded more than $2.5 million of communications-focused funding to 54 organizations and projects working on food and farm systems change.
Please note: In 2018, the Fund engaged in a formative evaluation and updated its grant offerings based on its findings. This page offers listings of past grantees; however, please note that historic grants may not reflect the Fund’s most recent updates. Please refer to our Grantmaking page for further details regarding the Fund’s current priorities, criteria, restrictions, funding range, and application timeline and process.
2019 Core Grant Recipients
- The Center for Rural Strategies, based in Whitesburg, KY — to support an integrated communications campaign that produces and distributes content in ways that 1) increase the capacity of grassroots, multi-sector rural advocates and their national networks to address food systems change; 2) positively affect the coverage of food systems issues in local, regional, and national media; and 3) educate local, state, and national policymakers on food systems reform topics.
- Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas - CATA, Glassboro, NJ — to support developing a communications strategy to enhance the organization’s capacity to effectively communicate with and engage the farmworker and low-wage Latino community and allies regarding important issues including food justice, immigrant justice, and workers’ rights.
- Community Farm Alliance, Berea, KY — to expand their story-based multimedia communications campaign, focused upon shifting the narrative surrounding Appalachia’s farmers and farming culture by documenting and celebrating individual farmer’s efforts, connecting current problems in modern agriculture to the forces responsible, and presenting action steps in order to help influence a brighter farm and food future through systems change.
- Dakota Rural Action, Brookings, SD — to support both shifting the dominant narrative and educating citizens and decision makers regarding Food and Agriculture policy and programs by bridging Native and non-Native narrative and stories about training beginning farmers and ranchers in holistic sustainable agricultural practices and methodologies, and fighting factory farming development at the detriment of rural and low income and often ill-represented communities.
- The Farmworker Association of Florida, Inc., Apopka, FL — to support engaging the services of a consultant to work with staff in carrying out a comprehensive, integrated planning and strategy-setting process for addressing both internal and external communication needs of the organization.
- HEAL Food Alliance, based in Oakland, CA — to support 1) communications trainings for 55 member organizations, 2) cross-sector communications development to simplify the Platform for Real Food, and 3) implementation of communications infrastructure to collectively elevate the voice, presence, and stories of people who are at the forefront of change in the food and farm justice movements, but largely invisible in mainstream media.
- Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Springfield, IL — to support a comprehensive narrative training for a cohort of 25 farmer leaders and regenerative movement organizers to tell their own inspiring stories about soil’s capacity to draw down carbon and protect drinking water to non-farming policymakers and their constituents, with urgency in a way that generates action.
- La Semilla Food Center, Anthony, NM — to support a community storytelling project to shape a narrative framework and messaging about the Farm Bill and how it impacts all of our lives; the community’s lived experience and wisdom will advance the public and policy narrative about the human dimensions of inequity and innovation in farm and food policy.
- La Via Campesina South Asia, based in Rajarajeshwarinagar, Bangalore — to support communications training programs that will lead to the formation of Peasant Communicators collectives comprising young peasant members of La Via Campesina South Asia.
- The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), based in Washington DC — to support creation of a Communications Fellow position, as well as the introduction of new software that will enhance the Fellow's experience and grow NSAC's overall communications capacity.
- The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, based in Gloucester, MA — to develop and implement a comprehensive, integrated communication strategy that 1) helps communicate the upcoming name change to the North American Marine Alliance, and 2) to build connectivity, alignment, solidarity, and collective power within our Fish Locally Collaborative (FLC) network and with other movements in the fight against the corporate takeover of the ocean, land, fishing rights, and our food systems
- Soil Generation, Philadelphia, PA — to enhance the organization’s digital presence, strengthen networks, and grow the coalition of Black and Brown urban farmers and gardeners in Philadelphia working for a just transition.
- Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network (SAAFON), Atlanta, GA — to create and leverage a video series on Black ecologically sustainable farmers in the Southeastern United States 1) to strengthen SAAFON’s strategy of building collective power among the farmers so that they can lead the creation of an alternative food system rooted in progressive values; and 2) to shift the U.S. cultural narrative about the Black agrarianism as a catalyst for social change.
- Agricultural Justice Project, Gainesville, FL – to support a video project to inspire the public to stand in solidarity with those most marginalized within the food system, when making purchasing decisions and supporting food justice work.
- The Alliance of Central Asian Mountain Communities, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – to deliver rural development news and information for villagers of Kyrgyzstan via the "Ayil Demi" newspaper.
- California Institute for Rural Studies, Davis, CA – to unearth little-told stories about immigrant innovations in California farming and make them widely accessible through the “Cal Ag Roots: Hidden Histories of the San Joaquin Valley project.”
- Center for International Policy/Mighty Earth, Washington, DC – to execute high-profile public actions, garnering extensive media coverage in markets that will increase pressure on a multinational corporation to alter its feed sourcing and reduce the harmful effects of unsustainable crop practices.
- Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, Kapaa, HI – to support strategic communication efforts, to counter industry spin, while promoting regenerative, local agriculture; to expand the base in impacted communities; and to amplify calls to action for pesticide regulation at the State Legislature.
- Main Street Project, Northfield, MN – to document and communicate the impact of Main Street Project’s poultry-centered regenerative agriculture system on farmers, consumers, and the media.
- Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, Taos, NM – to create and disseminate critical educational resources and to develop peer-to-peer learning networks that strengthen the capacity for developing food sovereignty in Native American communities across the U.S.
- Resource Media, San Francisco, CA – to build the communications capacity of two nonprofits working to publicize and counter the environmental justice impact of factory hog farms in North Carolina.
- Savé PNG, Papua New Guinea – to support the “Empower Pasifika” project, using communications tools to educate Pacific communities in indigenous food health, family farming and rural livelihoods.
- Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Billings, MT – to support WORC’s “Homegrown Stories” project, using storytelling and photography to explain how and why our food and agriculture system is in dire need of radical change, through an accessible online platform.
- White Earth Land Recovery Project, Callaway, MN – to support a community-owned radio program and tribal newsletter aiming to improve the community’s relationship with local food producers and harvesters and to encourage healthy eating habits, environmentally friendly food production, and the preservation and sharing of traditional Ojibwe food systems.
- American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association, Inc., Albuquerque, NM – to facilitate networking, sharing of best practices and expansion of culturally relevant, sustainable agri-tourism product and itineraries in Indian Country, laying the groundwork to restore indigenous food systems through associated economic and cultural impacts.
- Center of Southwest Culture Inc., Albuquerque, NM – to support “Sembrando Salud!,” a robust communications and outreach strategy that connects underserved communities to the concepts of Victory Gardens, organic gardening, healthy eating and New Mexico's agrarian culture.
- Farm Aid, Inc., Cambridge, MA – to support Farm Aid’s short documentary film “Homeplace Under Fire: The Farm Advocate Story,” which tells about the unseen, grassroots work of farm advocates and their fight to keep family farmers on the land.
- Food Chain Workers Alliance, Los Angeles, CA – to support a clear communications plan and strategy to help more communities discover the potential of the Good Food Purchasing Program and Policy, which together aim to fundamentally transform the way public institutions purchase food and grow the market for a values-based supply chain.
- Land Stewardship Project, Minneapolis, MN – to enhance communications with farmers and policymakers at the intersection of agriculture, soil health, and climate change, as part of the “Bridge to Soil Health” initiative.
- Mesa Media Inc., Polacca, AZ – to support efforts to document and celebrate Hopi food and farming knowledge by producing multimedia communications that maintain Hopi farming and food practices as living traditions.
- Nollie Jenkins Family Center Inc., Durant, MS – to support “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Land: African American Agricultural Heritage and Sustainability”—a four-part documentary and media-engagement strategy targeting farming communities in Mississippi.
- Practical Farmers of Iowa, Ames, IA – to generate innovative messaging to farmers and the broader community on alternatives to current farming practices prevalent in Iowa.
- Regents of The University of California At Berkeley, Berkeley, CA – to launch a data visualization platform to unmask the larger power structures at play within the national and global food system and to serve as a powerful advocacy and educational tool.
- California Institute for Rural Studies Inc., Davis, CA – to support the “Cal Ag Roots: Docks to Delta” series, using storytelling, podcasts, listening sessions and dialogues to demonstrate the power of integrating historical analysis into movement narratives and strategies.
- Dakota Resource Council, Bismark, ND – to galvanize North Dakotans around bedrock community values to re-establish family owned and operated agriculture and to reconnect constituencies to promote links between farms and culture.
- Food Chain Workers Alliance, Los Angeles, CA – to support a clear communications plan and strategy to help more communities discover the potential of the “Good Food Purchasing Program” and Policy, which together aim to fundamentally transform the way public institutions purchase food and grow the market for a values-based supply chain.
- HEAL Food Alliance (via Movement Strategy Center, Oakland, CA) – to support “Plate of the Union: HEAL Food Alliance Political Leadership Campaign,” which aims to broaden voters' awareness of how our food system affects our health, the environment, agriculture, labor, and local economies.
- Land Stewardship Project, Minneapolis, MN – to support the “Bridge to Soil Health” project, which will work with crop and livestock farmers to significantly build soil health, and share these farmers' stories widely, including in public-policy debate.
- Real Food Media Project (via Corporate Accountability International, Boston, MA) – to produce movement-building communications about food and sustainability and to expose industry spin-inspiring people to believe that changing the food system is possible, as well as connecting them with meaningful action.
- Rural Advancement Foundation International USA, Pittsboro, NC – to support a multimedia, multi-platform campaign aimed to capture the attention of farmers, social justice advocates, policy makers, journalists and the public to increase engagement, farmer awareness, and public discourse around the abuses of contract farming.
- Sagal Radio Services Inc, Stone Mountain, GA – to create media in Somali, Amharic, Swahili, Karen and Bhutanese/Nepalese—the languages of 70% of recently arrived refugees in Georgia—to support and advocate for local global farmers and to expand refugees' knowledge of and access to good food locally grown.
- Savé PNG, Papua New Guinea (via Rudolf Steiner Foundation, San Francisco, CA) – to support “The Food is Life Melanesia” project, using communications tools to encourage the consumption of local foods and to alleviate the growing rate of social problems associated with poor health, economic disadvantages and climate disaster in the countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia known as Melanesia in the Pacific Region.
- Alliance for Fair Food, Immokolee, FL – to support the “Food Chains Consumer Campaign,” which aims to use a new, high-profile, documentary film focused on the battle for farmworker justice to produce action that is capable of bringing more corporate buyers into the Fair Food Program.
- Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, NE – to support a strategic, targeted, and visual communications campaign that debunks crop insurance subsidy myths and brings greater transparency to food and farm policy.
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, MN – to support a communications strategy specifically designed to take the fear out of trade talks and to put the fight into the politicians elected to serve us, the journalists relied upon to inform us, and the activists depended upon in the good food and farm movements.
- Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance Inc., Gloucester, MA – to support the "Know Your Fisherman" campaign, with a solid communications strategy that lifts up community-based fishermen and emboldens them to take their seat at the food-system and fisheries-policy tables.
- Pesticide Action Network North America, Oakland, CA – to support the “Food Systems Communicators Collaborative,” which is an effort to harness collective talents and networks to respond to industry spin and proactively communicate powerful messages about sustainable farming.
- Real Food Media Project (via Corporate Accountability International, Boston, MA) – to support the Project's initiatives designed to inspire people to think differently about their relationship to the food system and to get involved in community-level change.
- Tohono Oodham Community Action, Sells, AZ – to increase online access and to build up social networking capacity for “Native Foodways Magazine.”
- Civil Eats (via Sustainable Markets Foundation, NY) – to support Civil Eats, a daily news and source for critical commentary about the American food system.
- Common Market, Philadelphia, PA – to support efforts to communicate sustainable food production values to consumers at retail outlets, to participants in direct-to-consumer programs, and to decision makers at institutions, corporations, and in government.
- Food and Society Policy Fellows (via Ag Innovations, Sebastapool, CA) – to create a portal that will capture information about—and content produced by—86 individuals who participated in the Kellogg Food and Society Policy/Food and Community program in the course of 13 years.
- From the Heart Productions Inc., Ojai, CA – to support the documentary film “Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmfields” and accompanying social action campaign, which together champion returning combat veterans who are transitioning to civilian life to pursue a second career in sustainable farming, grassfed-livestock ranching, and artisan food production.
- Real Food Media Project (via Corporate Accountability International, Boston, MA) – to support the Project's initiatives designed to inspire people to think differently about their relationship to the food system and to get involved in community-level change.
- The Lexicon of Sustainability (via the Worldlink Foundation, Petaluma, CA) – to support the Lexicon’s grassroots program, lifting up the voice of local solutions via information sharing projects, Pop Up Art Shows, Project Localize, and Short Subject Films.
- Food and Environment Reporting Network, New York, NY – to support investigative reporting that brings to light information empowering the wider public in their day-to-day lives, from issues of food safety to the environmental impacts of food production and corporate influence.
- Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources, Missoula, MT – to conduct two immersion training “institutes” (one in the W. Michigan Kalamazoo Rivershed, the other on the North Carolina Coast) to increase the efficacy and proficiency of journalists covering complex food and ag stories.
- National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Washington, D.C. (via the Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, NE) – to increase NSAC’s media and communications impact through strategic editorial placement and fostering new relationships between partners and traditional media.
- Practical Farmers of Iowa, Ames, IA – to provide training, staff assistance, and advertising to help a cadre of farmers secure widespread media coverage on how sustainable farmers are "growing more than crops, bringing more than food to the table.”
- Real Food Media Project (via Corporate Accountability International, Boston, MA) – to support the Project's initiatives designed to inspire people to think differently about their relationship to the food system and to get involved in community-level change.
- Union of Concerned Scientists, Boston, MA – to leverage enhanced communications strategies to create policy opportunities for healthy food and farms, to enhance the communications capacity of expert and advocacy communities, and to expand resources for communications across these groups.
Photo Credit
Cover > “Market Talk” by Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance.