🌱 Food & Land
How we grow, share, and steward the earth
The Problem
Industrial agriculture depletes topsoil at 10x the rate it's created. A handful of corporations control the global seed supply. One-third of all food is wasted while nearly a billion people go hungry. Land is treated as a speculative asset.
The Alternative
Community Land Trusts
Land held in common by the community — not owned by speculators. People can use, build on, and farm the land, but it can't be bought and sold for profit.
Open-Source Agriculture
Shared seed banks, open soil data, regenerative techniques, and peer-to-peer farmer learning — no patents, no gatekeeping.
Local Food Networks
CSAs, food hubs, community gardens, urban farms, and free food forests — shortening the distance between grower and eater.
Regenerative Practices
Building topsoil, increasing biodiversity, capturing carbon in soil, and working with natural cycles instead of against them.
Start Here
- ✓Learn to grow something — even a windowsill herb garden
- ✓Join or start a community garden
- ✓Buy from local farmers when possible
- ✓Research community land trusts in your area
- ✓Start a seed library at your local library
Already Happening
Southside Community Land Trust
Providence, Rhode Island, USA · Est. 1981
One of the longest-running agricultural community land trusts in the US, managing urban farms, community gardens, and farmer training programs to strengthen equitable local food access.
Agrarian Trust
Maine, USA · Est. 2013
A nonprofit developing the Agrarian Commons model — community-based land trusts that hold farmland permanently and lease it affordably to working farmers, removing land from the speculative market.
Open Source Seed Initiative
Madison, Wisconsin, USA · Est. 2012
Applies open-source principles to plant breeding with a legal pledge that keeps seed varieties freely available for use, saving, sharing, and further breeding — countering corporate seed consolidation.
OpenSourceSeeds (Agrecol)
Marburg, Germany · Est. 2017
Developed a legally binding Open Source Seed Licence to protect crop varieties from patents. Coordinates with the Global Open Source Seed Initiative network spanning ten countries.
Beacon Food Forest
Seattle, Washington, USA · Est. 2012
A 7-acre community-managed public food forest using permaculture design to mimic woodland ecosystems with edible plants. Anyone in the community can forage freely.
Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming
Ithaca, New York, USA · Est. 2009
A farm incubator providing beginning farmers — particularly immigrants and refugees — with hands-on education, land access, and mentorship to build sustainable land-based livelihoods.
Savanna Institute
Madison, Wisconsin, USA · Est. 2013
Advances agroforestry as a mainstream farming practice across the Midwest, demonstrating that tree-based agriculture can restore soil health, sequester carbon, and diversify farm income.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Davis, California, USA · Est. 1978
Builds sustainable local food systems by connecting small and mid-scale family farmers with communities through CSA programs, farm-to-school initiatives, and buy-local campaigns.
MASIPAG
Philippines · Est. 1986
A farmer-led network promoting biodiversity-based agriculture. Farmer-breeders have collectively produced over 1,385 rice varieties through participatory breeding across 35,000+ farmers.
Navdanya
Dehradun, India · Est. 1991
A network of seed keepers and organic producers across 16 Indian states, conserving heritage seeds through 150+ community seed banks and training farmers in seed sovereignty and agroecology.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa
Kampala, Uganda (50 African countries) · Est. 2008
A broad alliance of 48 civil society networks across 50 African countries promoting food sovereignty, agroecology, and smallholder farmer rights against industrial agriculture.
Red de Guardianes de Semillas
Quito, Ecuador · Est. 2002
A network of ~100 families rescuing and exchanging native seeds in danger of disappearing. Expanded to encompass permaculture, natural building, and solidarity economics.
Access Agriculture
Nairobi, Kenya (global) · Est. 2012
Produces free farmer training videos in 75+ local languages, enabling South-South knowledge exchange among smallholder farmers. ~200 videos on agroecological techniques.
GRAIN
Barcelona, Spain (global) · Est. 1990
Supports small farmers and social movements fighting corporate consolidation of seed and land. Publishes critical research on land grabbing and seed laws affecting the Global South.
Aranya Agricultural Alternatives
Hyderabad, India · Est. 1999
Has trained over 250,000 farmers in permaculture and sustainable agriculture across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, focusing on watershed management, soil regeneration, and tree-based farming.