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About the Center

Woman picking vegetables

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. 
--Martin Luther King, Jr., remarks from acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1964

In keeping with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s observation, now more than ever we need a diversity of perspectives, strategies, and actors to create the conditions for equity, justice, and health in our food systems. This requires a shift towards a values-based and systems-approach.  Our outreach, research, and teaching goals and activities address the interconnectivity of food system issues, including:

  • ecological possibilities for sustainable food systems
  • healthy and equitable food access
  • quality of life of food system workers and communities
  • emancipatory potential for socially just food systems

Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation

We work at the nexus of food, agriculture, and society to explore and catalyze the conditions for a more just and sustainable food system so that all may thrive.

Our aims include:

  • Developing dynamic co-learning partnerships across Virginia Tech and the Commonwealth for improved collaboration among a diversity of stakeholders addressing the complexity of food system issues with emphasis on social equity and community sustainability.
  • Launching community-based research initiatives that addresses historical and emergent issues related to healthy food access, farming system viability, ecological sustainability, and producer/food worker rights.
  • Supporting community-university teaching and learning opportunities by leveraging existing, and creating new, service-based curriculum in food, farming, and community transformation.

Annual Report

We welcome you to visit our annual reports to learn more about our Center’s mission, activity, and impacts.  Thank you.