Make a difference for the future
A better food and farming system doesn’t happen overnight! It takes people like you working every day, season after season, to nurture healthy soils and healthy communities that can heal our planet.
Getting involved in ag policy work—locally, regionally, nationally, globally—is one of the best ways to contribute.
Below are ways to act locally, learn how to become an advocate, and ways to stay informed on sustainable farm and food issues that affect the Carolinas.
Act Locally
Take Action in Your Neighborhood: Join a Food Council—or Start One!
Food councils are community organizations that help promote more resilient food systems. They strengthen connections between food, health, natural resource protection, economic development, and agriculture.
Councils work across sectors to solve broad food system issues and give local communities more control over the food they consume.
Gain Advocacy Skills
Learn How to Be an Effective Advocate
Are you passionate about sustainable food and agriculture? Do you want to enhance your ability to advocate for causes that are important to you and your neck of the Carolinas? Then you’ll want to join CFSA’s Member Advocacy Program!
This free training for CFSA members teaches:
- How to communicate with and influence policymakers.
- The role of grassroots vs. grasstops pressure.
- Effective ways to generate change in your community.
- How to leverage networks and relationships to become a food and ag policy influencer.
Through four interactive virtual classes, two hands-on activities to provide real-world advocacy practice, and one-on-one consultation with the CFSA Policy Team, the program builds your skills to be a successful change agent at the local, state, or federal level.
Farm and food policy should be a part of every candidate’s platform, no matter the level of public office.
CFSA releases a voter’s guide each election year to equip you with questions you can ask candidates running for elected office. Questions cover current issues spanning food, farming, food security, community gardening, and the environment.
Make your voice heard on food and farm issues! Calls to legislators are really influential. Sometimes as few as 10 calls to an influential legislator can determine what happens to a specific piece of legislation. This short video will show you how to call your representative and make a real difference!
Find contact information for your state and federal legislators here.
The sustainable agriculture community in this country and beyond is recognizing that mending the damage done to BIPOC communities is fundamental to an agriculture that is good for people and the planet.
We put together a race equity-related resource list as part of our goal to promote dialog about cultural, structural, and institutional racism in food and farming systems, and as part of our own organizational learning about these issues and their impacts.
Stay Informed
When signing up for CFSA emails, you can specify that you want to receive policy news. One of the features is our monthly newsletter, which includes upcoming trainings, recommended reads, and gives commentary on current issues most impacting local food and farms in the Carolinas.
Action Alert subscribers are crucial to CFSA’s advocacy. Rapid action to breaking news and legislation shows our leaders that we are watching their every move.
The CFSA Policy Team fights for laws and programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., that will benefit our farmers, farmworkers, communities, and planet. Find out about the latest campaigns we’re watching and how to get involved.
Become part of a vibrant network of farmers, consumers, foodies, businesses, and organizations all working together to ensure a just, healthy, and sustainable food system—now and for future generations.
Together we can support more sustainable farms, grow more local food businesses, and add more voices to advocate for fair farm and food policies in the Carolinas.