The Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation works to transform the future of food and agriculture in Western Pennsylvania and beyond.
CRAFT cultivates a more just, strong, and lasting food system by providing practical support, research-based tools, and learning opportunities for farmers, food business owners, and food system visionaries.
DEFINING A TRANSFORMATIVE FOOD SYSTEM
PROGRAM AREAS
CORE VALUES
The Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation puts these core values into practice in our work and promotes them throughout regional, national, and global food systems.
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Food systems are the central institutions of our communities, because of the central role that food plays in our daily lives - Everybody eats.
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As we work to transform our food system, we honor the social, historical, and interconnected significance of food to the people who eat it and recognize the varied approaches necessary to achieve the change we seek. We are mindful of our role as leaders and as followers, as well as the opportunities to dismantle and construct. Put in other words: there are no silver bullets.
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We center community in our pursuit of transformative regional food systems that value the people who live and work within them. Vibrant regions are comprised of vibrant communities.
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The strongest food systems leverage a wide range of experience and expertise. Policies and community practices that include and support diverse people, businesses, and professional perspectives strengthen the system by recognizing and leveraging a wide range of expertise and experiences.
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We recognize the history of all of our region’s historical and current residents, including the fraught and complex history of land ownership and food production in our region and country and the foundations that were laid by displaced indigenous and enslaved peoples from which we now benefit.