What do we envision when we dare to dream of a food system rooted in love? What does deeply rooted unity look like when we honor our uniqueness and our interconnectedness? What does it feel like when we are in balance with Mother Earth- when we go back to our essence? 

In the midst of imbalance, regional leaders are rising to the challenges created by our broken food system. This critical work is taking place in community meetings, late night zoom sessions, city hall visits, gardens and weekly sidewalk demonstrations. It’s being led by young people, teachers, elders, advocates and innovators who see the imbalance of power and resources in our world and are working towards transformation. We are in the middle of a critical time where we can and must shift the paradigm. We need to shift from a society that is extractive, consumerist and rooted in white supremacy to one where we focus on our relationships with each other, honor our connection to the earth, and spend our energy on developing reciprocity and restoring balance. 

These last few years have been heartbreaking. A global pandemic that disproportionately affects BIPOC, poor, and frontline communities; a racial justice uprising that shed renewed light on how many Black and other BIPOC people are murdered regularly by US police; an assault on our democracy whose fractures are unrepaired; a new and brutal war with implications across the world; and an increasingly urgent climate catastrophe left largely unaddressed by those in power. Our food system has and will continue to feel the effects of these crises, from loss of life and livelihoods to food scarcity and insecurity, from supply chain upheaval to rising food prices worldwide. 

There is not one singular person who can change our food system alone, but together we can and are starting to put our collective energy into the change we want to see. We root our change in love, and we pay attention to what we want to grow– a food system that is healing, a food system that is powerful from the roots and the soil, and a food system that nourishes people, plants, and the planet. In 2022, we are not shying away from what’s bad, but we are focusing on what we need to heal: reparations, sovereignty, and support and space to grow solutions.

Join us at this year’s It Takes a Region Conference to envision the food system we desperately need, and that we grow together- one that is rooted in love.