About Us
Protecting the Future of Food
Since our founding in 1990, RAFI (legal name: Rural Advancement Foundation International — USA) has recognized that our food system is deeply inequitable, where rural communities — their land, animals, and people — are exploited to benefit corporate power structures. Working across agricultural sectors and collaboratively through coalitions, we combine on-the-ground practical services and policy advocacy to ensure farmers have access to the tools they need to make the right choices for their farms and families, as well as for their communities and the environment.
RAFI takes a whole system approach to change through integrated program areas: Come to the Table, Farm Advocacy, Farmer Grants, Farmers of Color Network, Just Foods, Policy Advocacy, and Resources for Resilient Farms.
Our Mission
RAFI challenges the root causes of unjust food systems, supporting and advocating for economically, racially, and ecologically just farm communities.
Our Vision
We envision a thriving and equitable food system where farming communities have dignity and agency; where they are supported by just policies; and where corporations and institutions are accountable to the communities they impact.
Our Goals
In order to advance our mission and move toward our vision, we will prioritize achieving these goals:
1. Power in the food system is less concentrated, and corporations, government, and institutions are held more accountable to the farming families and farming communities they impact.
2. There is more equitable access to resources and opportunities that support the viability of historically underserved farmers, especially among BIPOC farmers.
3. RAFI implements a flexible participatory model of community engagement that shapes our work, evolves based on changing needs, and becomes an integral and measurable part of our core systems and operations.
4. RAFI supports farming practices and food systems that are climate resilient and advocates for policies designed to achieve environmental justice and measurable mitigations of and adaptations to the climate crisis.
Core Values
1. Relationships and Lived Experience: We believe in human connection, one another’s lived stories, and the powerful witness of authentic experiences shared in trust.
2. Equity and Justice: We believe in actively working to dismantle and repair the harms of white supremacy and other forms of oppression within food systems, in an effort to build a more just world in which all communities and individuals thrive.
3. Empathy and Compassion: We believe in the power of listening with the intent to understand the experiences of those with whom we work. An essential part of how we address systemic injustices comes from this place of compassion
4. Integrity and Accountability: We believe that reliability and correcting mistakes are critical ways to honor and demonstrate dedication to our constituents. We believe in holding institutions, corporations, governments, and other bodies of power to that same level of commitment
5. Collaboration: We believe that our work is inherently interconnected, and when we work together our cooperation makes us stronger and more effective.
