More than 2,500 animal, environmental, and social justice organizations as well as 150 congressional offices provided input to the Roadmap. The report details the harms and wastefulness in the current food system and outlines actionable policy pathways for the public good. Three key strategies drive the Roadmap: improving nutritional security, strengthening community food infrastructure, and integrating agriculture into national climate policy.
Right now, public tax dollars prop up the intensive factory farming system that produces cheap animal products and biofuels at a tremendous cost to animals, people, and the planet. Take corn and soy: Two of the most heavily subsidized crops, they’re primarily used to fatten livestock and fuel cars, not feed people. This gross misallocation of resources wastes agricultural land, accelerates environmental crises, and keeps healthy, plant-based foods out of reach for many Americans.
The Roadmap offers practical alternatives for a better future. A national nutritional security strategy could redirect federal programs like SNAP, WIC, EQIP, and the Farm Credit System to incentivize sustainable plant-based food production and consumption rather than industrial animal feed and fuel crops. Realigning these federal programs with public priorities can increase access to fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains that nourish people and advance long-term health outcomes.
Nutritional security is about both growing enough food and how that food is grown. It’s also about ensuring that communities benefit from this system. As the Roadmap outlines, key federal food policies favor large-scale producers at the expense of local and regional farmers. This weakens local economies and restricts access to healthy foods. Instead, food systems should prioritize community food infrastructure — Michigan’s 10 Cents A Meal initiative is a good example. The program enables schools to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables with a 10-cent per meal incentive and supports smaller farmers, nutritious food choices, and sustainable practices that can shift power back to communities.
Food system change also plays a critical role in both mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. Globally, food systems are responsible for 37% of greenhouse gas emissions, yet they remain largely unaddressed in federal climate action plans. The Roadmap’s Food and Climate Policy section calls for integrating food and farming into our national climate strategy by promoting low-emission agricultural practices (e.g., agroforestry, rewilding, and plant-based food production). Ending the dairy milk mandate in public schools, supporting farm transitions through revenue-based insurance, and diversifying federal land use to maximize conservation benefits are a few of the many ways policymakers can tackle climate change via food systems.
At its heart, the Roadmap lights the way toward a food system that’s good for everyone: people, other animals, and the planet. As our food system evolves, government programs, including the Farm Bill, should prioritize healthy families, farmers, and communities over shareholder profits. Let’s seize this moment and build a better food system together.
The Food System Shift Roadmap is can be viewed in full at this link, and a one-page summary is available here.
