We ask ourselves these questions:

Is it good for the Eater?
Farmer
Earth?
Community?

This project was funded thru a partnership with

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)

SARE-funded programs have put solutions into practice and built new collaborations in sustainable agriculture.

Each of us carries a piece of the answer for a more sustainable future — a way of living that meets our own needs today while protecting resources for those who will come after us. We need each other if we are to achieve increased sustainability.

By sharing our own stories and listening to others, we begin to see how small steps can add up to a big impact. We gain strength from knowing that people like us around the world are rethinking the role of food and agriculture in building healthy communities.

We have entered a delicious new age in America as a greater number of consumers — or eaters, as we call them in this publication — join forces with growers to demand more from our food and farming system. Thousands of farmers are reinventing their farms, seeing their role as supplying locally grown food to their communities as well as providing critical environmental services like clean water, wildlife habitat, and scenic open spaces. Communities, in turn, are seeing farms and farmers as part of the solution to many of the most difficult challenges faced by society today:

• Kids learning healthy eating habits early are avoiding obesity.

• Better nutrition is preventing chronic diseases.

• Improved food production decreases reliance on imported oil.

• Shifts in how food is produced, processed, and transported are addressing climate change.

Because this is a revolution that stretches from farm to table, growers do not work in isolation. Fortunate are those who have access to the technical assistance, creativity, and support of well-trained agricultural professionals. Drawn from the Extension service, community-based organizations, and federal, state and local agencies, agricultural professionals play a critical role in transforming the food and farming system. When they have the right training and tools, these professionals can help to connect farmers and ranchers with chefs, institutional buyers, policy makers, and eaters. Agricultural professionals can also assist in the formation of cooperatives and other joint ventures that multiply the strength of a handful of growers.

This website shares information and inspiration gleaned by participants in a two-year Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project. Our goal is to help agriculture professionals to see their role in creating a vibrant countryside, healthy nutritious foods, and stronger communities. Who are the people involved in a food system? How do we create an agricultural system that fuels their needs?