The industrial food system is in desperate need of reform. For those who'd like to make it happen, we've created a list of five things consumers can do, and 10 things the US can do to help effect an efficient transition to a sustainable food future. (You can also discover many other opportunities to make sustainable food, water and energy choices on our Take Action homepage.)
Five Things Consumers Can Do
1. Make Sustainable Food Choices
Sustainable agriculture protects the natural environment, public health, human communities, and animal welfare — it also produces foods that are better for you than the highly processed industrial alternatives. Take action to safeguard the environment and improve your health by purchasing foods from local, sustainable farms. Learn more about shopping for sustainable foods on Sustainable Table.
Get Informed
- Sustainable Table
- Meatless Monday
- Environmental Working Group Meat Eater’s Guide
- Animal Welfare Approved
Take Action
- Find healthful food from local, sustainable farms using Eat Well Guide.
For resources outside the US and Canada, see Eat Well Guide’s International page. - Shrink your environmental footprint by reducing overall meat consumption.
- When you do choose meat, purchase it from sustainable farms that protect animal welfare.
- Produce your own sustainable food! Grow fruits and vegetables at home or in your community. Crunched for space? Try using your roof, your windowsills, or even your walls.
2. Safeguard Antibiotics
80% of all antimicrobials sold in the US are administered to livestock in order to boost growth rates and compensate for crowded, unsanitary conditions. This practice promotes the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which threaten public health and reduce the effectiveness of medicines used by humans. Support a ban on the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Sign the Citizens Against Superbugs petition on Facebook.
- Tell the FDA to eliminate unnecessary use of antibiotics in livestock!
3. Fight for a Fair Farm Bill
The farm bill is a piece of legislation that has a tremendous impact on what kind of food is produced in the US, how this food is produced, and who has access to it. Demand a farm bill that supports sustainable agriculture and promotes the production of healthful, affordable food available to everyone.
Get Informed
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- Farm Bill 101
- Center for a Livable Future
- Food Fight 2012
Take Action
- Visit Food & Water Watch’s Fair Farm Bill campaign website.
4. Support Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods
Despite overwhelming public support for labeling genetically engineered (aka GE / genetically modified / GM / GMO) foods, manufacturers are still not required to disclose whether their products contain GE ingredients. Support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Join the Just Label It campaign.
5. Be Engaged
Become a sustainable food system advocate! Educate yourself about the issues, share this information with others, and support organizations that promote sustainable food.
Get Informed
- Learn the basics about food issues by visiting Sustainable Table and watching The Meatrix movies.
- Stay up to date through blogs like Ecocentric, Grist, Civil Eats, and Think Forward (IATP).
Take Action
- Spread the word about the issues via Facebook (Sustainable Table) and Twitter (@eatsustainable).
- Contact school officials and your local, state, and federal representatives and urge them to support a sustainable food system.
- Learn and share digital-age advocacy skills through Food + Tech Connect.
- Get your college or university involved through the Real Food Challenge, Food & Water Watch, or Slow Food on Campus.
- Join or support an organization that works toward a more sustainable food system. Here are some of our favorites: Environmental Working Group, Farmers Market Coalition, Farm Aid, Food & Water Watch, Food Corps, Food Democracy Now!, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Land Stewardship Project,Slow Food USA, Wholesome Wave. Find more sustainable food and agriculture organizations near you using Eat Well Guide.
Ten Things the US Should Do
1. Support Sustainable Farms
A sustainable food system can’t exist without sustainable farms! The government should encourage, promote, and support sustainable farming through financial incentives, educational programs, agricultural research, training and assistance for beginning and transitional farmers, and investment in the infrastructure required to bring sustainable foods from farm to table.
Get Informed
- Glynwood Institute
- Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
- National Young Farmers' Coalition
- Greenhorns
- Friends of Family Farmers
Take Action
- Support local, sustainable farms! Find farmers' markets, CSAs, and sustainable farms near you through Eat Well Guide.
- Help build a sustainable food system with Food Corps.
- Connect with your local and regional food system and join the national conversation about food and agriculture through the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.
2. Regulate Factory Farms
Also known as industrial livestock operations or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), factory farms threaten human health, destroy the environment, degrade rural areas, and compromise animal welfare. These problems should be addressed through creation of better CAFO regulations, improved enforcement of regulations, and implementation of common-sense policies to protect society from the abuses perpetrated by the industrial livestock sector.
Get Informed
- Food & Water Watch
- Center for a Livable Future
- Reforming Industrial Animal Agriculture campaign at Pew
- Factory Farm Map
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories
Take Action
- Join Compassion in World Farming USA’s broiler campaign to expose the problems caused by industrial poultry production and to promote pasture-raised chicken farms.
- Educate others about factory farms by sharing The Meatrix movies.
3. Improve Food Safety
As a result of weak regulations, inadequate oversight, and the increasing consolidation and centralization of food processing and distribution, rates of food contamination are unacceptably high, causing large-scale outbreaks of foodborne illness to occur all too often. In the interest of public health, food safety standards must be improved and regulatory oversight must be strengthened.
Get Informed
- Food & Water Watch
- Center for Food Safety
- Food Safety campaign at Pew Health Group
- Make Our Food Safe
- Center for a Livable Future
- Food Safety News
- Consumers Union
Take Action
- Demand strong food safety legislation. Find actions alerts from the Center for Food Safety, Not In My Food, Buy Safe, Eat Well, and Food & Water Watch.
4. Produce Healthful Food for Everyone
Healthful food shouldn’t be a luxury —it should be available and affordable to everyone. Policies should be implemented to improve food access and food security, reform the school food program, and educate the public about food choices and personal health.
Get Informed
- Growing Power
- Growing Food & Justice for All Initiative (GFJI)
- Kellogg Foundation’s Food & Community Program
- National Farm to School Network
- School Food Focus
Take Action
- Get involved with the Community Food Security Coalition.
- Share extra produce from your home garden with a local food pantry through AmpleHarvest.org.
5. Ban Nontherapeutic Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture
The nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture poses a serious threat to public health and to the efficacy of drugs used to treat human illness. Regulators should heed the advice of doctors and public health professionals, and ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Join the Citizens Against Superbugs campaign on Facebook.
- Tell the FDA to eliminate unnecessary use of antibiotics in livestock!
6. Regulate Genetically Engineered Foods
The US should adopt a more prudent policy approach to genetically engineered (GE) foods; regulators should implement mandatory labeling of GE foods, create a more rigorous testing/approval process for GE organisms, and reject the approval of GE fish.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Sign a petition to the FDA through the Just Label It campaign.
7. Protect Farm Workers
Without those who work on our nation’s farms, none of us would eat. Yet farm laborers often suffer gross injustices in the forms of dangerous working conditions, absurdly inadequate pay, and, in some cases, severe human rights abuses. A food system cannot be sustainable without being fair; policies should be created to protect farm laborers by safeguarding workers' rights, establishing a fair wage, regulating pesticides, and monitoring agricultural working conditions to protect public health.
Get Informed
- Coalition of Immokalee Workers
- United Farm Workers
- Farmworker Justice
- United Food and Commercial Workers
Take Action
- Participate in the Take Action for Fair Food campaign.
8. Promote Sustainable Food by Creating a Fair Farm Bill
The farm bill has an enormous influence on the US food system. Policymakers should strive to develop a farm bill that promotes good food, creates fair markets for farmers and consumers, revises the commodity crop subsidy structure, supports local/regional food systems, and creates the distribution networks necessary to support sustainable agriculture.
Get Informed
- Food & Water Watch
- Environmental Working Group
- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- Center for a Livable Future
Take Action
- Support food system reform through Food & Water Watch’s Fair Farm Bill Campaign.
9. Protect the Environment
The future of food and the health and wellbeing of humanity depend upon the protection of the earth’s natural systems. Legislators should implement policies that promote soil conservation, safeguard water resources, protect biodiversity, reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-driven industrial agricultural techniques, and more effectively regulate pesticides and other toxic substances.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Follow Beyond Pesticides' action alerts.
10. Account for the True Cost of Food
Sustainable agriculture can replace the industrial model, but this transition requires a level playing field and fair markets. Policymakers, consumers, and industry must account for the true cost of food when making decisions; this requires effective assessment of the negative externalities and other market failures associated with industrial agriculture.
Get Informed
Take Action
- Make decisions that account for our economic dependence on natural and social capital.