Transformative Food Systems Knowledge Exchange Network

Our vision is to foster transformations in food systems that are rooted in regenerative agriculture, organizational democracy and solidarity across social strata including with the poor and marginalised.

This means building alternative economies based on cooperation and mutual care for one another and the local and global networks of nonhumans upon whom humanity depends. For such a system to itself become transformative it must:

1. enable a growing number of people to maintain decent and secure livelihoods;

2. promote animal welfare and alternative sources of protein;

3. provide affordable, healthy and safe food;

4. contribute to the recovery of habitats and biodiversity;

5. bring a joyful renewal of rural culture; and

6. forge relationships of trust and respect among rural and urban communities.

A transformative food system which meets social and environmental goals will require different organizational models, alternative agricultural practices, new financing mechanisms and innovative logistical solutions. It will also entail a deep re-evaluation of values and worldviews as we figure out how to realise more liberating modes of working and living together with one another and the wider world.

As practitioners our purpose is to share our rich experiential knowledge and to ground research and action in reality and make it useful for ourselves and others who are also on a similar mission.

As researchers our purpose is to work with practitioners (activists, producers, cooperators) to promote transformative change in food systems.

As people our purpose is to learn with and from each other with the aim of surprising ourselves by what creative actions might emerge.