Restorative Food Systems

Photo by Jan Mangan

The Restorative Food Systems Program helps transform the dominant, exploitative food system to one that is ecologically based, humane, socially just and equitable.

Over the past 30 years, Bioneers has demonstrated and taught how food system visionaries and practitioners are creating viable alternative models and practices that are regenerative, fair and economically robust. With the onset of climate disruption, taking these practices and models to scale is imperative.

Through the Bioneers conference, our media and special projects, we highlight successful models and innovative practices to expand grassroots knowledge and hasten the transformation to ecological agriculture and a just and healthy food system. We provide information, inspiration, connections and conceptual frameworks to help individuals, communities and decision-makers envision and implement their own sustainable food future.

Our food-and-farming newsletter shares the stories and celebrates the people whose work builds local food systems that serve people and embeds ecological stewardship into agricultural practices.

Recent Issues of the Food Web

What We Do

  • Since 1990, the Bioneers conference has highlighted diverse visionaries reimagining food systems: organic and “beyond organic” ecological farming; seed diversity; soil fertility; food justice; carbon farming; more localized food systems; Indigenous farming practices; healthy food and nutrition; and resistance against GMOs, agribusiness and the corporatization of food and farming.
  • We produce extensive media related to food systems, including our most recent series Regenerative Agriculture: Healing Ecosystems and Stabilizing the Climate, and we’ve catalyzed significant media exposure and advancement for little known breakthrough people and work, such as Michael Pollan’s inclusion of farmer Joel Salatin as the protagonist in his bestselling book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The Bioneers Food and Farming Media Collections offer themed collections of the “greatest hits” of conference food and farming keynotes. We create and distribute articles, interviews, podcasts and blogs with leading ecological farming visionaries and sustainable food systems leaders for the Bioneers website and partner outlets.
  • We produce numerous hands-on trainings on leading-edge practices on model farms led by master eco-farmers and Permaculture, Biodynamic and other teachers.

We’ve implemented change-oriented projects including:

Deep Dive: Carbon Farming

Sharing the on-the-ground science on how agriculture can be a climate change solution.

Deep Dive: Regenerative Agriculture

In this media series, we describe farming principles and practices that increase biodiversity, build and enrich soil, improve watersheds, and enhance ecosystem services.

The Iroquois White Corn Project

Founded by John Mohawk, the Iroquois White Corn Project works to help revive this important food and support Native farmers.

Support for African American Farmers

An eco-economic initiative with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to support African American farmers in the Southeast remain and succeed on their farms.

Dreaming New Mexico: An Age of Local Foodsheds and a Fair Trade State

An atlas of food system sustainability that developed a framework for a state-level, local, socially just food system.

We thank all the remarkable people lighting the path to a healthy, just and regenerative food system.

Contact

Arty Mangan, Restorative Food Systems Director, Arty@Bioneers.org


Partners

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse

Our bi-weekly newsletter provides insights into the people, projects, and organizations creating lasting change in the world.