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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.

Image credit: Upper left, Kim Niewolny. Upper right and lower, Melissa Ripepi.

photo compilation of field, squash, and people shelling corn

                       

What We Do

We strive to offer and support opportunities for learning that help us to support our food system and build better communities.

Our learning circles are designed to be a participatory structure for group reflection, dialogue, and planning based on selected scholarship and emergent topics.

Our Center is  home to a number of state and regional programs supporting food systems-based community development at the nexus of food, agriculure, and society.

The Center supports a number of projects related to and in support of regional food systems and community transformation. 

Center fellows bring the aims of the Center to their communities as leaders, educators, and advocates for equity, justice, and health in our food and farming systems.

Resource Pages

              

Upcoming Events

  • Article Item
    A Unique UVA-Africulture-Aramark-4P-Local Food Hub Collaboration: Growing an Equitable Regional Food System with Institutional Purchasing Power to Support BIPOC farmers , article

    How might universities use their institutional procurement power to support sustainability goals while also supporting regional food systems and advancing food equity and justice? One answer might be that it is a “very long game” and takes pounds of persistence and patience by many passionate individuals who bring minds, hearts, and organizations together to work for common cause. You will learn about how a unique partnership between the UVA Sustainable Food Collaborative, Aramark/UVA Dine, 4P Foods, Local Food Hub, and Carter Farms & Africulture, along with funding from the UVA Sustainability Committee, is pushing and stretching the concept of a bottom-line maximizing profit economical food supply chain into a something different – a more value-driven, relation-building proposition that is seeking to address the historical impacts of racism by supporting and working with BIPOC farmers to meet their needs, reduce barriers, and create advantages for participating in the university institutional food supply chain. Still in its very early stages, the initiative is already bearing fruit. Members of the partnership will share the vision and goal, challenges they’ve encountered, and innovations and strategies to keep the initiative moving forward.

Press