Groups such as the Native Farm Bill Coalition and National Young Farmers Coalition are organizing policy advocacy efforts to ensure that the needs of marginalized farm communities are prioritized in the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is a massive piece of US legislation that allocates hundreds of billions of dollars toward farm communities and supplemental nutrition programs.

So what?

The efforts of coalitions signal that farm communities are empowered to build coalitions to unite and directly influence policy, a key leverage point towards achieving a transition towards a more just and regenerative agriculture system. The Native Farm Bill Coalition, for example, achieved unprecedented success by influencing the last Farm Bill in 2018; their ongoing work liaising with the US government and Department of Agriculture to address the unique challenges members of the coalition face highlights the potential for grassroots organizing to impact sustainability outcomes of large-scale government investments.

To see how these different signals across the agriculture system are impacting the future system that we envision, keep an eye out for the upcoming report from
Growing our Future.