The Farmlink Project’s Post

Since founding The Farmlink Project, we have learned immense amounts about the hunger fighting landscape, especially the corner of that world focused on fresh food recovery and food loss & waste. We have learned so much from dozens of peers we admire, and listened to their feedback and hopes for this hunger-fighting community. And we've come to a conclusion: there will be enormous power if we can articulate our aspirations for this space in unison. So, we spent the last 12 months refining the ✨Shared Plate Pledge✨ . This Pledge does not mandate how food should be distributed or accessed, or how food banks must run. We seek to simply clear the path for innovation and collaboration, by aligning behind a few clear principles and values that we believe most participants in this space already embody. In fact, there's a chance you may consider this pledge to be a 'no brainer', or even obvious. That is actually the goal. The few instances where these principles are not followed poses the greatest source of inertia and threat to progress that we face. No matter what you do, you are a part of our food system. The Shared Plate Pledge is for anybody who shares a deep passion for bettering the food system - nonprofits, for-profit organizations, agencies, and individuals. I ask that you please consider signing, sharing, and at the very least reading. 💚🧡

The ReFood Network aims to revolutionize the way we approach food systems resilience by fostering collaboration, innovation, and sustainability across various stakeholders. To face the challenges in our food system today, including climate change, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss, we'll have to start working together through a holistic and integrated approach. The creation of a ReFood Community is such a way and is always started by a 'seed'! 🌱✨ But what exactly is this "seed"? A seed is a local food stakeholder ready to embark on a journey towards creating a more connected, circular and regenerative local food system. A seed can be anyone from a local regenerative farmer, to a Non-Profit Organisation, a restaurant owner, a local government, a school or even you as a consumer. 🌱 In Brazil for example the ReFood Community ‘seed’ was a Non-Profit Organisation called @santafoodorganicos and in Belgium the ‘seed’ was the owner of a CSA farm @groentegeweld. They started the process of forming a ReFood Community by bringing local food actors together. Will you be the seed of change in your community and start this process? Calling all local food champions to plant the seeds of a sustainable future together. Let's grow a connected, circular, and regenerative local food system whereby nobody is left behind! 🌍💚 #ReFoodtheworld #regenerativethinking #foodsystemtransformation #CommunityEngagement #SeedOfChange

Building the future of green cities with The Refood Network #regenerativeagriculture #smartcities #deeptech #sustainability #microeconomy #socialimpact #environmentalimpact

McKnight's Tonya Allen set the stage for an important discussion about philanthropy's role in transforming global food systems hosted by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Tonya started with a Nelson Mandela quote: "It always seems impossible until it's done." Creating sustainable, resilient, and just food systems is a monumental task, and Tonya asserted that "big bet philanthropy can be a big part of getting it done. But it is not just about big dollars, it's also about acknowledging big ideas that are coming from the field and making sure that the people closest to the challenges and furthest from power are the people that we center," she shared. "How are we using our power to re-write the rules? If we want to get the impossible done, we have to disrupt the ways that we've been doing things. We have to disrupt the way we value people and what knowledge looks like, we have to disrupt the rules that have created the conditions we're in." Hear Tonya's full introduction and the panel discussion that followed including other philanthropic leaders tackling food systems transformation, Anna Lappé with Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Masego Madzwamuse at Oak Foundation, and Sonia Medina with Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF): https://lnkd.in/gWezjSzn #agroecology #climatesolutions #foodsystems #philanthropy

Interested in reducing your surplus food, but not quite sure where to start? Look no further than our friends at ReFED, a national nonprofit that partners with businesses to understand how to reduce #foodwaste. https://lnkd.in/dCfBVfJ6 #foodwastemonitor #foodimpact #sustainability

🌍🌱 Exciting News! 🌱🌍 I'm thrilled to share that I'm diving back into the topic of sustainability, which I had to put on hold for a bit due to other priorities. Now, I'm joining the volunteer project "Habits for a Better World" organized by Karel Vredenburg, focusing on the impact of food systems on climate change. Yes, you heard right – while most discussions highlight fossil fuels, it's crucial to also address farming, land clearing, and the broader food system's role in climate change. For those who know me, the intersection of food and sustainability has always been a passion. During my master's, I researched this extensively and published a paper on scaling food systems through collaborative design. If interested, you can take a look at it here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dsFgt8jG Since joining IBM three years ago, I've channeled my energy into supporting various sustainability initiatives, including the Climanomics solution with Hodan Saeed and Claudia Dalla Torre, where we explored the impact of food on agriculture and climate change. Now, I'm bringing my passion and design skills to this new project, advocating for better habits and sustainable food systems. As a vegan, I promote a plant-based diet and believe in its potential to reduce our climate impact. Consider this: the total emissions from the food system rise to ~34%, with 16 million square kilometers of land used for crops and 34 million square kilometers for grazing animals. That’s 38% of Earth’s land surface! Animal agriculture alone uses around 29% of Earth’s land, while plant-based agriculture covers just 9%. Shifting even partially towards a plant-based diet can significantly lower our environmental footprint. Let’s make impactful changes together! Check with your 👀 ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/dvue3h_H #Sustainability #ClimateChange #FoodSystems #PlantBased #BetterHabits #VolunteerProject 🌎💚

#1 in my (new!) series about Changemakers - sharing people/companies/organizations in and out of my network who are doing changemaking work** I first met Kimberly Trouville Smith, CEO of Copia, while producing the 2023 Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit. Connected by another attendee, Kimberly asked us to donate all surplus food from the event through her company, Copia (which we did). Each year in the U.S., around 149 billion meals worth of food goes unsold or uneaten. Most of this ends up in landfills, where it emits methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than CO2 and a major contributor to climate change. Copia's goal is to reduce food waste by creating networks and connections to move high quality, nourishing food and get it in the hands of those who need it most. As someone who is personally committed to reducing food waste and changing food systems (I sit on a local food pantry board and get huge dopamine hits whenever we rescue and redistribute food for our delighted community members), I LOVE this project. Copia takes the hurdles that exist for moving food waste (liability, regulation, measurement, reporting) and makes the process seamless for donors and recipients, helping donor companies large and small track contributions and showcase their impact. Win, win, win. Food waste and hunger are wildly complex issues that require a diversity of tactics to tackle. I appreciate that Kimberly and Copia are providing tangible, tactical ways for businesses of all sizes to play their part. Bonus! Copia was listed as an "Inc. Best Place to Work 2023". My hope is we can be done with the days when businesses do good solely through products or services but are terrible to their people. Kudos to Kimberly for ringing both bells. 🍎 🍌 🥑 CTA: Follow Kimberly and Copia on LI and reach out if you’re in the US and in a position to donate surplus food waste or if you’re a nonprofit looking to receive food surplus. **changemaker defined here as: someone who is taking creative action to solve a social problem for the greater good. A changemaker demonstrates that they are motivated to act and they remain tenacious in their efforts. #foodwaste #consciousbusiness #leadership #foodjustice #climate #circulareconomy

It’s National #FoodWastePreventionWeek, and we are excited to share that Second Harvest is now a member of the Zero Food Waste Coalition! This group of non-profit organizations, cities, companies, and other entities are working to improve the food system at the federal, state, and local levels—and now we’re joining the effort. We have been working hard at the food bank to reduce food loss and waste through our Zero Waste Certification. And now, by joining the Zero Food Waste Coalition, we are aiming to accelerate our progress and build momentum by partnering with other stakeholders across the food system. To learn more about our efforts or to join this coalition, visit: zerofoodwastecoalition.org #foodwaste #FWPW #ZeroFoodWasteCoalition #foodpolicy #foodrecovery #WeFeedOC

In the '90s the milkman delivered orange juice. 🍊 Historians declared 'the end of history'. How could things get any better? It turns out things could get much worse, but milkmen largely skipped that bit. What they did during those lost decades is known only to a select few. What we do know, however, is that the milkman is back with a bang, and they've got way more than milk & juice in their carts. Leading the charge is The Modern Milkman, one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. ↳ They're on a mission to offer sustainable, plastic-free products with maximum convenience to the widest possible audience. 🥳 I'm delighted to say that The Modern Milkman are supporting our Community Fridge Network to share food amongst communities and save food waste. ➡️ Refer a friend this month and The Modern Milkman will donate £5 to Hubbub. 🙏 ➡️ And for the rest of this year, you can buy a virtual pint of milk with your regular order, and 95% will be donated to the Community Fridge Network. Wondering what a Community Fridge is? 🤔 They’re spaces that bring people together to: • Share food • Save it from going to waste • Connect and learn new skills In partnership with Co-op the Community Fridge Network has grown to over 650 fridges across the UK. ↳ Last year they shared around 18 million meals' worth of food to over 600,000 visitors! So be like my colleague Rosie Gordon Lennox - pictured - and pick up a virtual pint here: https://lnkd.in/d-sxHBkt 🥛 And thanks to Simon M. & his amazing team for bringing this to life. 🙌 (Disclaimer: the 'end of history' thing may not have been directly related to the orange juice. It's hard to remember the precise details). ++ P.S. I'm CEO of environmental charity Hubbub. We bring business, government and civil society together to create campaigns that inspire & support people to make choices that are good for the environment. Follow me - Alex Robinson - for insights on environmental change, leadership and more. #environment #sustainability #foodwaste  #circulareconomy …

Forum for the Future has been awarded £400,000 in funding raised by players of People's Postcode Lottery, courtesy of Postcode Green Trust. This funding will drive Forum’s work in accelerating the shift to a just and regenerative food and energy system, and transforming the purpose of business in society and the economy. 💬 Dr Sally Uren, CEO of Forum, shared her thoughts: "The funding will allow us to raise our ambitions to change not only the way that we produce and consume food but also to transform the energy system, and the purpose of business in society for the benefit of both people and planet. We greatly value joining the network of leading charities supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and seeing the opportunities this will create to achieve these ambitions." Since 2019, players of People’s Postcode Lottery have contributed over £600,000 to support our initiatives, particularly our Growing Our Future programme in the UK. This programme has been pivotal in reshaping our food systems by collaborating with farmers, retailers, producers, and consumers to create a more just and regenerative approach to food production. Learn more about the funding: https://lnkd.in/eXnp_d7z Learn more about Growing our Future UK: https://lnkd.in/ePy7TNtT #PeoplesPostcodeLottery