You don’t have to be a farmer or a scientist to change the food system. Here are 30 small steps you can take in your everyday life to affect change.
- Vote for representatives who support sustainable agriculture and healthy foods
- Join a CSA
- Shop at a farmers’ market (and ask your farmer what they are having trouble selling–and buy it!)
- Compost your food scraps at home or at the farmers’ market
- Ask your school principal to make healthy food a priority
- Join your community’s food policy council–or start one
- Visit or volunteer at a community garden
- Post an article on healthy food systems on social media
- Contribute to nonprofits working to support farmers and food system change
- Buy pasture-raised eggs and locally-raised meat, if you can find it
- Plant wild flowers for pollinators
- Cook dinner at home, and incorporate Meatless Mondays into your week
- Eat uncommon meat cuts
- Learn about GMOs
- Learn about the connections between food production and climate change
- Ask a farmer about cover crops and integrated pest management
- Buy “ugly” fruits and vegetables at the market and post your best photos to Instagram!
- Visit a farm with the whole family
- Google “soil health”
- Make a microloan to a young farmer
- Eat what’s in season
- Grow some of your own food, or even create a windowsill herb garden
- Try a new vegetable
- Make broth from bones or vegetable scraps
- Freeze or can fruits for winter months
- Dry herbs for cooking and making tea
- Teach your children how to cook
- Read a book about the future of food and farming
- Subscribe to a food and farming news service or blog
- Learn about the 2018 Farm Bill
What would you add to the list? How are you working to be a Food Changemaker? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook or Twitter and keep working toward a better food future for all!
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